Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter Eighty Eight: World War Three - To Siberia with Love
It was a evening a few days after the Battle Royale Incident that had seen a massive battle between loyalist and rogue Dark Side organizations, an invasion of the City by a band of mercenaries hired by the rogue BLOCK, and the escape of the bioweapons arms dealer, Remy LeBeau. And in the Kiyama household, Saten Ruiko, the Number 3 of the City's Level 5s, was enjoying a quiet night. An opportunity that Ruiko had chosen to use to engage in a bit of reflection on recent events.
As perhaps was to be expected considering her circumstances, Ruiko's mind was predominantly focused on the black outs that had befallen her lately. Black outs that saw her abruptly freezing at random and becoming lost in the sea of impressions that she had collected and which made up her AIM body. A state of affairs that she sadly did not know the cause of. Sure, the strange Angel Aiwass had confirmed some of her suspicions but he had not provided any specifics and she had failed to figure them out either, which meant her mind continued to be preoccupied by pondering the source of her woes.
Aiwass said my new nature as an AIM Angel is unstable, is that why my stability issues have worsened? Ruiko mused as she lounged in her favorite wingback chair in her private study and sipped on some tea, thinking back on how her black outs were getting more and more common. What can I possibly do to stabilize my Angelic nature?
She used her immense computational ability as a Level 5 to run through a plethora of computations on potential solutions that came to mind but as with all her previous efforts, her attempts again came to naught. At yet another failed attempt, Ruiko let out a tired sigh.
Let's think of something else. I need a distraction. Ruiko thought as she took a sip of her tea and with a little telekinesis, she summoned her tablet into her free hand, flipped the case open and turned on her news aggregator app.
What!? God's Right Seat attempted a takeover of both the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches!? Ruiko thought with incredulous shock as she saw the headline for the breaking news. Which was to be expected. This was massive news! Yet it seemed she had missed it! Her intel gathering capabilities outside the City were limited and she herself was preoccupied with other matters but surely she could not have missed this!
Here's hoping that this is just a result of my intel analysts still working on a report for me. Ruiko thought angrily, because if that wasn't the case… Then there would be some people in need of a new job.
Ignoring the unpleasant prospect of having to fire her analysts for now, Ruiko focused on reading the article she'd pulled up. Apparently, God's Right Seat had been branded a rogue order for their actions with the Pope even proceeding to excommunicate them. All of which had happened within a short ten minute window less than fifteen minutes ago.
Okay, that might explain why I haven't heard anything about it. Ruiko reasoned as she used her Electromastery to remotely trawl the internet for any and all news about the event and found credible information in short supply. The only thing she had to go on was a still ongoing press conference that was being given by a clearly injured Pope.
Ignoring the old man speaking through his obvious pain, Ruiko focused on the auto-generated transcript of what he'd already said and cross-checked against the limited other credible sources she could gain access to. Together, she built a rough picture of what had happened. Apparently, the Pope and God's Right Seat had a disagreement over how to carry out their war with Academy City, particularly the latter's decision to ally with the Russians. A disagreement which escalated into the order's leader, Fiamma of the Right, attempting to attack Rome in a show of power meant to cow the Pope into submission. Instead, the old man had used his own magic to defend the Italian capital and the Vatican from the attack leaving himself gravely wounded in the process and dramatically revealing the existence of magic. It would be next to impossible to put that particular genie back into the bottle after seeing a literal hand of god made out of clouds descending from the sky to smite Rome and only stopped by a dome of golden energy. Not when videos of the confrontation had been captured by millions of devices and gone viral online.
Okay, that's bad. I can't even begin to calculate how the end of the masquerade regarding magic will change things. Ruiko thought with a frown. But that might not be the worst thing the Pope's let out of the bag.
For in what Ruiko imagined was a calculated move to deflect away from potential criticism from the masses about the Church being aware of magic and hiding its existence and outcry from the magical community of its unilateral decision to tear down the masquerade, the Pope had also revealed the true reason behind why the Catholic Church and its allies were fighting Academy City. Part of it, the old priest had admitted, was because the Church was simply fundamentally opposed to their atheistic worship of science above god. However, he insisted and Ruiko was inclined to believe him, the Church had chosen to go to war with the City primarily because of its attempts to affect the Pure World, the realm beyond god, and was thus causing the Distortion of the Laws of the World that were causing unknown but potentially apocalyptic effects on the world. He even cited the recent Angel Fall event perpetuated by Kamijou-san's father, of all people, and how it caused people's very identities to be overwritten by those of others as an example of something only made possible because of the Distortions caused by the City's efforts. He claimed that the Church was trying to put an end to the City's reckless research.
And that's about as far as he's gotten in his press conference. Ruiko thought with a frown as she finished reviewing the available data and found much to her annoyance that the Pope was being frustratingly honest and forthcoming about everything. He, and by extension the Church, was even providing ample evidence for each and every one of its claims and accusations. All of which had been verified by Ruiko's admittedly barebones initial fact-checking to be accurate.
Argh! I really hope the City's PR team is able to work a miracle because if they don't then by the time the Pope is done we'll have no allies left. Ruiko thought with dismay as she compiled data on the situation so far and flagging it as urgent, forwarded it to her analysts for follow-up.
In the meantime, with the thought of the City's allies in mind, she turned her attention to the situation in the United Kingdom. Said City ally had just gone through an attempted coup by Second Princess Carissa and the Knights of England using the power of the magical sword, Curtana Original, that had led to a brief civil war. Thankfully, due to the efforts of Kamijou-san the situation was resolved in the favor of the reigning Queen Elizard and as a result, the country had elected to continue their alliance with the City.
Just how does Kamijou-san keep getting into situations like this!? He's half-way around the world and he still ends up getting caught up in Incidents? He really is a trouble magnet, isn't he? Ruiko thought idly as she brought up a world map on her app and began marking out the various sides in the looming World War 3.
On the City's side was itself, the British and a handful of other countries, mainly third world nations whose current governments Ruiko herself in her days as the [Army Slayer] had helped install, that the Directors had one way or another convinced to support them. It was a motley alliance that if not for the City being a technological superpower and the British a magical one, would be steamrolled by their opposition. Especially when one set of opponents consisted of God's Right Seat and the formidable might of Russia and its allies whilst the other consisted of practically the entirety of the rest of the world. Sure, there were a few countries, notably including the United States of America, which were still neutral at this stage but they were few and far between and outside of the U.S., none of them had the strength to change the balance of power between the belligerent camps.
And to think, all this can be immediately traced back to Acqua of the Back's attempt to kill Kamijou-san. Ruiko thought with a frustrated sigh. The world almost seems to revolve around that guy at times.
Though thinking back to said assassination attempt did bring a smile to Ruiko's face as it reminded her of Mikoto-senpai's interactions with her crush during that particular crisis. She honestly could not see the appeal in the [Imagine Breaker] but watching how his mere presence transformed her rough and tumble senpai into a lovestruck fool was thoroughly amusing. And the scene that played out between them during Acqua of the Back's attempt on Kamijou-san's life was just too cute for words!
Plus, we did get some relatively good information out of it.
After all, Acqua's delivery to the City of Terra of the Left's body as part of his declaration that he would kill Kamijou at least confirmed the man's death.
Which means God's Right Seat is down one member, which can only be a good thing for us.
"Ruiko!" Accel shouted as he descended from the air atop a twister so that he was level with the window to his girlfriend's study. "Are you in?"
In response to his call, the window opened courtesy of some telekinesis and with a smile, the Number 1 let himself in.
"Accel, you do know we have a front door, right?" Ruiko said, shooting him an irritated look from her seat in a chair where by the looks of it she was reading something on her tablet whilst drinking some tea. "What possessed you to decide to fly in through my win-"
Much to Accel's horror, Ruiko couldn't even finish her sentence. Instead, she was still mid-word when she suddenly froze like a statue.
Shit! He cursed. That monster wasn't lying. Ruiko is getting worse.
He knew about Ruiko's black outs of course. How could he not? He was her boyfriend and they were raising kids together. She'd told him about it almost as soon as they started happening. She did, however, downplay the whole thing. That or it was getting worse. Either way, she had said it was a rare thing and it didn't really affect her. But after he had seen how it had screwed up her attacks during their fight against [Dark Matter] and now with her just blacking out when they were just talking…
Enough is enough.He decided as he rushed to grab the bug out bag that he knew she kept in her study. She had one in every one of the rooms of her house that belonged to her. And with the bag of essentials in hand, he promptly unceremoniously picked Ruiko up from her chair, slung her over his shoulder and flew out her window.
If that monster was right about Ruiko's condition worsening then I'm willing to bet he's right about how to fix it too. Accel reasoned as he flew on a northwest trajectory that would take him firmly out of the City and towards the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations. Besides, unlike everyone else in this damned City who all seem clueless about how to help her or are unwilling to do anything, at least that monster offered a potential solution.
~ Flashback ~
Even as Accel struggled under the immense unnatural pressure that suddenly filled the room where he and the rest of GROUP had been meeting the shitty Director, Shiokishi, he took a moment to scan his surroundings. Only to find, much to his annoyance, that all his comrades and even the waste of space were unconscious. It was only him left to glare defiantly at the monster calling itself Aiwass.
And Accel wasn't being metaphorical when he described the thing before him now as a monster. He was being completely literal. What else would he call the man shaped thing made of what seemed like condensed AIM that the City called DRAGON? Especially when its mere presence was enough to send him, the Number 1 Level 5 of Academy City, to his knees and made it difficult for him to breathe.
"Your strength and determination are impressive, boy. I can see why Babalon has such faith in you." The creature said, sounding pleased for some reason even as it talked nonsense. "It is a pity it is not yet enough. However, in light of your progress let me give you a boon. Your girlfriend, Saten Ruiko's, condition will begin to decline soon as lacking an anchor to this Phase, her connection to it continues to fray-"
Accelerator tried to stand at the mention of Ruiko but the monster just looked at him and he was slammed to the ground like the gravity affecting him had tripled. Cursing, the Number 1 tried to use his Esper ability to redirect the phenomenon. Gravity was a known quantity to him and it should have been easy. But that was the problem, whatever had slammed him to the floor might have looked like a gravitic effect but it wasn't. Whatever this was, it was far more esoteric.
"-If you wish to save her then take her to the place you humans call the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations." The monster continued, ignoring Accel's cursing entirely. "There through the same methodology that the Index Librorum Prohibitorum used to give her the temporary reprieve she now enjoys she will find her true salvation."
With its piece done, the monster's eyes flash a brilliant gold and Accel was abruptly knocked unconscious.
~ Flashback End ~
I'll save you Ruiko. Accel promised his unconscious girlfriend. Even if it's the last thing I do, I will save you. Even if it means listening to that monster's advice.
A day later, Accelerator was seated against some crates inside one of the cargo cars of a train traveling along the Trans-Siberian Railway. He sat with his leg bouncing repeatedly as he felt his impatience grow at how slow the bloody train was. The only thing that kept him from acting out was the arm he had wrapped around the comatose Ruiko and which he used to hold her close and keep her warm. If not for her, he would've flown all the way to the Elizalina Alliance, but after crossing the Sea of Japan, he had unfortunately found exhaustion starting to set in. That would not have stopped him if he was alone. If that were the case, he'd have kept pushing until he collapsed. But with Ruiko with him, he could not afford to be so bullheaded. If he passed out then there would be no one to protect Ruiko and with her not waking up since she'd blacked out back in her house, he was not taking the risk of leaving her undefended. So here he was, stowed away on a slowass train of all things as an alternative mode of transport.
A sneering frown crossed his face as he side eyed his girlfriend. If Ruiko found out about this, she'll rag on me for weeks! I can just imagine her teasing me for not thinking ahead.
The thought of Ruiko's teasing brought a smile to Accel's face as he turned to take an admiring look at her, only for it to quickly shift into a frown as her conscious form reminded him of her current condition. For, even after leaving Academy City, his girl was still down and out. It had been about a day and she hadn't woken up even once.
Not even when he had changed her out of the casualwear she'd been wearing when he'd first picked her up back in the City and into the winter clothing she had in her bugout bag. He, a guy, had changed her and she didn't even bat an eyelid. The reminder of that had him tightening his arm around her shoulder as he pulled her in closer.
She will wake up. I'll make sure of it. He swore to himself firmly before sighing and shaking his head. He needed a distraction or he'd be stewing in his angst for the rest of the ride.
So, reaching over to his pocket, he fished out Ruiko's phone and started to fiddle with the built in radio. Flipping it on, he was ready for some teeny bopper song the kids loved, or maybe some oldies, but no, what he got was far more ominous.
"-peat, Fiamma of the Right has seized a local Russian fortress near the border between the Elizalina Alliance and Russia. A reluctant alliance between the forces from both Academy City and those of the world's other nations have surrounded it to contain the threat of the rogue Magician. However, Fiamma has sent out a broadcast of his own, in an attempt to justify his actions."
Accel felt his blood freeze at the thought that some Catholic lunatic had managed to occupy a part of Russia of all places. The fuck was going on?
"'People of the world, I do not strive to put fear in the heart of the Lord's Lambs, but to merely aid in His righteous cause! Within my hands, I hold a ritual that will correct the Distortion of the Laws of the World. With it, balance once more may be restored!'"
What kind of fruit loop is this guy? He sounds like some damn RPG villain looking for sympathy. Accel thought as he snorted at the sheer gall of some people.
"After such a deranged statement, the religious community has lost all trust in the once famed member of the Church and he has been stripped of the many other official capacities he once held. Furthermore, we have word that the allied forces will launch an attack once specialists capable of facing Fiamma's formidable power arrive."
Well, good luck to those schmucks, they were going to need it. He might not know squat about 'magic' but he could glean enough from the context of the reports that this Fiamma person was insanely powerful. To the point that, in another time, Accel might have been tempted to test his own strength against the Catholic's. However, at the moment, with the situation such as it was, Accel honestly couldn't care less about the pissant Magician. Unfortunately, he had nothing better to do than listen to the updates as the news had taken over all the airwaves, no matter what frequency he changed to.
"Whatever, maybe Ruiko will want an update once she's up." He clicked his tongue, leaning back against the crate more while slouching. "Science knows she loves this shit."
He was just getting comfortable, or as comfortable as he could get when he was seated on the floor of a boxcar of a cargo train, when the roof of the opposite end of the train car from where he and Ruiko were seated was suddenly torn open. Reacting quickly, Accel leapt to his feet whilst, with the help of his powers, he gently laid Ruiko on the ground and simultaneously used his Redirection to deflect the wreckage created by the damage to the roof that had flown their way.
A hole through which a trio of white Powered Suits leapt down. These weren't the HsPS-15s that Accel was familiar with however. Instead of those blocky machines, these guys had unconventionally slender upper bodies but the typical oversized legs of such Suits and various modifications that seemed to be designed to optimize them for cold conditions. Suits that by how advanced they clearly were, could only have come from Academy City.
"So the City finally got off its ass and sent you guys to retrieve us, huh?" Accel addressed the Suits as he used his powers to pick up some debris from the Suits' violent entry and a number of the nearby crates in the boxcar and sent them flying at his attackers at high speed.
The blasted things were well built however and despite the speed that Accel gave his improvised projectiles, they barely even caused the Suits to stagger. It did throw off their aim as they tried to turn the machine guns built into their wrists at him. Not that Accel was worried about that at all. His Redirection could easily handle the hail of lead that these Suits were shooting his and Ruiko's way.
"Seriously? Is this the best you can do?" Accel asked with a roll of his eyes as he forged a brace of lances made of spiraling winds. "Is the City serious about recovering us or not?"
The Suits remained silent as they had through the whole fight, instead choosing to abandon the use of their machine guns and instead activating a set of Science be damned flamethrowers that were apparently built into their wrists too.
"Oh, you're kidding me. Flamethrowers? Seriously?" The Number 1 said with a disbelieving shake of his head as he fired off the air lances that he had been preparing even as he used his Redirection to send the flames they were shooting at him right back at them.
Probably blinded by the wall of flames, two of the Suits weren't able to evade the lances shot at them. Impaled by the air drills, the machines were ripped apart by the powerful centripetal forces. The last Suit however, likely by pure luck, managed to duck and roll out of the way of the lances sent its way and quickly got back to its feet where it proceeded to continue its futile attempt to blast Accel apart with its puny machine guns.
Unseen by the veil of mortality, hidden away from the physical world, the entity known as Babalon watched the events befalling Accelerator and Saten Ruiko as they traveled along the Trans-Siberian Railway.
A smile spread across her face as she watched a train hopping Accelerator being attacked by a squad of Aleister's little dolls dressed up in their wintery white uniforms. Despite the surprise that the dolls had achieved, it was still a one sided slaughter in favor of the Number 1 Level 5.
It was so nice to have a scenario she set up play out the way she'd hoped it would. And all it had taken was arranging for the Suits' target to end up on the same train that Accelerator and Saten Ruiko had stowed away on. After that, human nature had run its course and the operators remotely controlling the Suits from Academy City had rather foolishly, in her opinion, decided that they could both secure their target and recapture the rogue Level 5s at the same time.
Honestly, humans are far too easy to manipulate. Babalon thought with a wry smile.
A smile that turned into pure amusement as she stared at her Taxiarch of the Age of Horus showcasing his prowess. It was a frankly delightful sight. However, as she turned towards the unconscious Saten Ruiko, her grin twisted into a discontented frown and she could not help but shake her head in exasperation.
The little girl's development as an Angel of the Age of Horus was coming along nicely, but for such a smart girl, she was being a true layabout at this time.
Truly, her significant other is fighting to protect her and the dear is sleeping through it? How shameful it is for a princess to nap as her knight fought to defend her. Let's fix that, shall we?
Reaching out with an ethereal hand, Babalon touched little Ruiko's head, and used her power to snap her out of her silly little coma.
Consciousness returned to Ruiko in an abrupt way. One second she had been having a conversation with Accel in her study at home and in the next, she suddenly found herself waking up behind some crates in what appeared to be a train with the sound of a battle taking place nearby.
Where the hell am I!? Why is it so cold? Ruiko thought even as she activated her default suite of emulated sensory abilities to assess the situation.
As the information began coming in, Ruiko quickly pieced things together. According to the makeshift GPS she had cobbled together with her emulated abilities, she was on a train trudging along the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Wait what!? Ruiko thought, blinking in surprise at that realization but as more information came in, she quickly dismissed her shock. It was frankly much less important than the fact that it seemed the battle nearby was Accel fighting a group of the City's unmanned winterized Powered Suits.
That realization had her beginning to push herself to her feet. However, as she did so, she noticed that the use of her sensory suite, something that was usually nigh effortless, alone was already causing the edges of her vision to turn black.
Okay, using my powers is a no go. Thankfully, I have other options. Ruiko concluded with a frown. I have no idea why we're in Siberia or why Accel is fighting City forces, but I know what I need to do.
Acting on her decision, she pulled her gun from the holster under the skirt of the dress that was decidedly not what she had remembered wearing before her latest black out. Popping out her magazine to double check the composition of the loaded bullets and after nodding in satisfaction at seeing it was loaded with her usual loadout, she took aim at the Suit that Accel had yet to take down.
As the bark of her pistol rang out, Ruiko could only lament as she glanced at her bugout bag out of the corner of her eye. Ah, if only I had the targeter attachment for those homing bullets. Or have them to begin with. What a pain!
With all her recent black outs, having a gun that essentially couldn't miss would have been a boon. Especially if she froze in mid-motion while firing and her aim was thrown off in the process.
Without her powers to support her, Ruiko was not that great of a shot. Despite her best efforts, finding the time to practice her shooting was difficult. However, what practice she did manage had made her a passable one. Thus whilst she wasn't able to score any immediately fatal hits, she was able to empty her magazine in the torso of her target easily enough. At that point, the specialty bullets she used did more than make up for her lack of accuracy.
The Armor Piercing (AP) rounds shot right through the machine's thin armor, ripping its internals apart in the process and allowing the High Explosive (HE) rounds that followed to get past the Suit's hard outer shell before they detonated, setting what remained of its vulnerable systems alight. All in all, the effect left the Suit riddled with fist sized holes and burning as it collapsed to the ground, rendered inert by the damage.
"Nice!" Accel praised as he eyed the still burning wreck appreciatively.
"Thanks, Accel." Ruiko replied with a roll of her eyes at her boyfriend's excessive love of all things violent. Yes, she had similar tastes but honestly, was now the time!?
Setting aside that particular irritation however, Ruiko instead chose to focus on something a little more pressing as she turned to address her boyfriend instead. "Accel, I have something important to ask you."
"What is it?"
"This was not what I was wearing before my black out." Ruiko pointed out as she patted down her current outfit which consisted of a nude color knit dress with a sexy surplice neckline, a fitted body-flattering silhouette, a waist belt and a pleated ribbed skirt that was paired with a burgundy lolita style winter coat with faux fur trim around the collar, ruffles around the skirt and was decorated by tasteful embroidery.
If he was most other men, being hit with an accusatory observation like that would likely have left him flustered. Accel though was not most men. So instead all he did was shrug as he replied. "The blouse and short skirt you were wearing back in your house in the City isn't exactly suited for traveling across Siberia."
Ruiko nodded. She could see the logic in that but that was honestly besides the point.
"So you changed me? Whilst I was unconscious?"
"Yeah. I didn't have a choice. You wouldn't wake up." Accel reasoned unrepentantly. "I got the clothes out of your bug out bag."
Ruiko should have been scandalized. A boy - Yes, he was her boyfriend but he was still a male! - had changed her clothes! But she knew getting upset with Accel over that would get her nowhere. He honestly couldn't see any wrong in what he did and trying to explain it to him would be a tiresome effort that Ruiko was honestly not in the mood for. Thus she just sighed, letting her annoyance at what Accel had done flow out of her, and nodded.
"Accel, please do not do that again unless absolutely necessary. Respect my privacy please."
Accel nodded.
"Thank you." Ruiko said gratefully. If Accel had promised her not to, she was sure he would cleave to that promise. He was honorable like that. "Now, onto other matters. Why did you kidnap me?"
"I'm acting on a bit of advice from that thing the City calls DRAGON. Apparently, if we head to the Elizalina Alliance there'll be a fix to your black outs."
That was news to her but then again DRAGON had been willing to tell her how to fix her condition when she met him and had only been stopped from doing so by Crowley. Thus, that he would be willing to reveal such information to Accel when they met, and she had heard they had, seemed entirely plausible. As such, she just nodded and accepted that Accel was telling her the truth. Besides, her boyfriend had no reason to lie to her.
"And you couldn't have just told me that and asked me to come along with you? Did you need to kidnap me?"
"I tried to talk to you." Accel said defensively, wincing at Ruiko's biting tone but refusing to back down on the rightness of his decision. "But when I did, you blacked out on me. You're getting worse, Ruiko. I wasn't going to waste anymore time."
"Accel, I get where you are coming from. Your worry for me getting ahead of your better judgment is actually pretty sweet." Ruiko said with a sigh, her words prompting Accel to blush lightly. "But please respect my autonomy going forward. Please."
"I'll try." Her albino knight said seriously, all traces of his blush from earlier fading from his face. "But I will always prioritize your well being and that of our family over anything else."
"I can accept that." Ruiko grudgingly allowed with a sigh, knowing she would not be able to get anything better out of Accel. Deciding to move on, Ruiko shook her head. "We should sort through the the Suits. They might have some useful equipment. Maybe even how they found us."
"Fine." Accel replied, looking sullen but complying with her suggestion and moving to sift through the Suits' remains.
It was mostly wrecked electronics which were useless to them, but there were some things that would prove helpful. The remaining bullets in the Suits' magazines, a good number of which were the specialty bullets she used, for example would greatly expand the supply of ammunition Ruiko had access to. So she quickly got down to the task of emptying their contents. She was working on that when Accel whistled for her attention.
"Oi, Ruiko! I found a suitcase!" Her boyfriend said, pulling said suitcase out from the badly dented but still intact blocky backpack of one of the Suits.
He tossed it around with his free hand as he leaned on his crutch with his other. "So, why the fuck would they have this with them? Makes no sense."
"True, it doesn't make any sense to take this with them, unless…" She trailed off as she gave him a 'Gimme' motion.
"Unless what?" He asked, handing her the case.
"Unless the Suits attacked the train for two targets. One was us and the other was the briefcase." Ruiko concluded, examining it critically.
Accel scoffed, crossing his arms. "What could be more important than a pair of Level 5s? From the top three no less."
"And that's why I'm trying to get a look into what is in it, silly." She said with a roll of her eyes and teasing smile on her lips that caused her favorite grump to pout, though he would argue it was more of a scowl, at the jab. "After all, if the City came to the conclusion that taking this briefcase and recovering the pair of us were on the same level then? Then whatever this case contains must be incredibly important."
Accel rolled his eyes at her trying to open it by cracking the code of its combination and jammed his finger against the lock, turned on his collar for a second and drilled through the lock with a jet of pressurized air.
"Thank you, Accel." Ruiko said with a smile as she popped the now unlocked case open and found a stack of parchment.
"What the hell!? A stack of old paper is as important to the City as a pair of Level 5s?"
Ignoring Accel for a moment, Ruiko examined the documents with narrowed eyes. She could not make sense of much of it and using her computational ability to decipher its contents was already causing her to start to lose feeling in the tips of her fingers and toes.
"This is some kind of text about magic." Ruiko explained, causing Accel to snort in disbelief at the thought of magic existing. Not in the mood for his skepticism, Ruiko shot him a glare. "Now is not the time for that, Accel!"
He winced at her rebuke before looking chastised, nodded and made to say something. Apologize most likely. Ruiko did not however give him the opportunity.
"Listen, I overdid it trying to analyze this thing and I'm losing feeling in my body." She said, to an alarmed look from Accel even as she carefully laid down. If she was about to black out, she'd rather do so in a position where freezing up wouldn't cause her to fall over and bash her head in. "Finish what I started with the ammo. I might need it. And take the document with us. It might prove useful. If nothing else, if the City wants it, keeping it out of their hands is a good idea."
"Right. That makes sense." Accel said as he stepped forward towards her prone form. "Leave everything to me."
"Okay." Ruiko said in an increasingly soft whisper as she began to lose the ability to move the muscles of her throat that let her speak. "I trust you, Accel."
The sight of an almost tearful Accel nodding in acceptance of the trust she placed in him was the last thing that Ruiko saw as unconsciousness claimed her once more.
"That albino sack of shit!" Naru cursed as she paced inside the living room of Rui-chan's home. She, the rest of the Trinity and associates along with her bestie's family were all gathered there to discuss the issue of the Number 1 kidnapping the Number 3. The couple's daughters would have been there too, they had even demanded to be, particularly Febrie-chan, who had sensed Accelerator's kidnapping Rui-chan with the AIM sense side of her ability but had not realized what was happening and instead thought her parents was going out on a late night flight. But their grandmother and their nannies had decided to keep them away. It was doubtful that they would have anything to add besides expressing their worry anyway.
"There has to be a reason for it, right?" Kazari-chan offered with a frown as she typed away on her tablet, presumably searching any and all databases she could access in a bid to extract useful information on the situation.
"That doesn't excuse it!" One of Rui-chan's siblings, Khulan-san, cried out, scowling.
"Maybe he wanted to elope?" Ylva-san, the leader of Maniple, offered helplessly, getting dirty looks sent her way for her trouble.
"Naru, stop pacing and sit down." Senpai demanded, shooting the blonde a scolding look.
"I'm too wound up to sit!" Naru shot back with a pout, her hair whipping up in a tizzy.
Director Oyafune, who decided to join them on the basis of being the Trinity's sponsor, spoke up. "I must apologize, I suspect what Accelerator learned from meeting with DRAGON motivated his actions. If I had known it would have turned out like this, I would have never helped him and the rest of GROUP meet with Shiokishi. I knew they intended to interrogate him about DRAGON's whereabouts after that oaf tried to eliminate them to cover up that they had learned of that thing's existence but I never thought it would lead anywhere but a dead end."
The older woman looked heavily displeased, a scowl on her wizened face.
Kiyama-sensei waved off her fretting, looking even more exhausted than usual. "It's not your fault, Director. You wouldn't have known that DRAGON would confront them."
Director Oyafune sighed, "I still should have dissuaded GROUP from investigating that headache. Or at least let the Trinity know about what they were doing."
"Yeah, why didn't you?" Naru hissed aggressively, getting a thwap on the back of her head from Senpai. "Ow~! Hey!"
Senpai, the ultra meanie, just glared at her.
"I didn't tell you young ladies about GROUP's intentions at Accelerator's insistence. He didn't want to make things more difficult for Saten-chan. After all, there is a reason investigating DRAGON is dangerous." The old woman shook her head wearily. "I honestly didn't think GROUP would get anywhere. After all, it took a direct invitation from DRAGON for you to learn what it was. Once more, I am truly sorry."
"Look, now isn't the time for the blame game." Senpai said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "We have to focus on Ruiko."
"Can the Trinity mount a rescue?" Rui-chan's youngest sister, Park-chan, asked hopefully, her siblings all hanging on every word of the response.
The two remaining members of the Trinity exchanged a look between them, Oyafune-sama, Ylva-san, Kurozuma-san, and a newly recovered Frenda-san.
"Don't know why you guys are looking at me," Kurozuma-san said with a shrug. "Me and my Big Spider guys are street level. We don't know the first thing about operating overseas, much less in a warzone like Russia is now."
"Seivelun-san? Ylva-san?" Wu-san, Rui-chan's oldest brother, said, looking at the two Dark Siders expectantly.
"I've been out of it for the past few days, what with recovering from my injuries, and I'm still only just starting to get used to what's available to the Trinity but…"
"But what Frenda-san?" Shinoda-san, Rui-chan's oldest sister, pressed.
"I don't think we can do it." Frenda-chan said with a frown and a shake of her head. "Right, Ylva-san?"
The sniper nodded. "With the situation in Russia as is, we'd need an army to stage a rescue and even with Maniple and Big Spider combined, we're only a lone battalion at best."
Everyone frowned at the mention of the situation in Russia. The conflict between Academy City and the massive country had deteriorated quickly, to the point that the Russians had launched a salvo of ICBMs at the City. Thankfully the missiles had been intercepted in orbit before re-entry by the City's missile defense systems. An action that when combined with the City using the threat of withdrawing its missile defense umbrella over Japan had forced the Japanese government to side with Academy City, expanding the conflict that was increasingly being branded as World War 3.
More relevant to the situation with Rui-chan, with the war well and truly in full swing like Ylva-san said, they would need an army to rescue the Number 3 from Siberia where the Number 1 had taken her.
"What if we call in some of our allies?" Edasaki-san suggested with hope. "If let's say we get Sequenzia-san's Black Crows to help us, would we have enough manpower and firepower to rescue Rui-chan?"
"Yes, Ylva-san, would that be enough?" Oyafune-san asked. "If not, what if I seconded my own personal forces to the effort?"
The sniper, commander of Maniple, and, most importantly, the most militarily minded individual in the gathered group took a long moment to consider the matter before finally shaking her head.
"I'm afraid not. To rescue Saten-sama, we would need to invade Russia and that means fighting their army. As many deficiencies of the Russian military has been surfaced by the war so far, it is still not something to be trifled with. We would need more forces than we could realistically get access to."
"So what?" Naru slammed her hand on the table, looking fiercely determined. "No matter what, we will rescue, Rui-chan!"
"Geez, did you get that from a manga?" Senpai asked with a smirk. "Besides, of course we are."
"As expected of Onee-sama." Kuroko-chan sighed as everyone nodded to Senpai's obvious statement. Of course they would rescue Rui-chan!
"We'll have to look into how we'll get out of the City first." Kazari-chan pointed out, frowning as she looked at her tablet.
"Please, we have plenty of connections to-" Naru started, but was cut off by the ringing of her phone. The entire room paused, looking at her. "Hey, hey! I turned it to silent."
As she said that, she pulled her phone out and frowned, letting out a sigh as she saw who the Caller ID indicated the incoming call was from. She answered it. "This is going to suck. Hello Superintendent!"
Her faux cheerful tone put the entire room on edge.
"Hello, Naru." Her boss said in his usual monotone voice. "I need you to prepare for a mission in Russia. The required information has been emailed to you. Be ready as soon as possible. Goodbye."
With that, he abruptly hung up, the upside down jerk!
He didn't even give her a chance to attempt to refuse.
"Naru, what did your boss want?" Senpai asked, looking concerned until her own phone beeped, indicating a message.
"But I turned it…" The chestnut haired Level 5 said with a frown as she fished out her phone. "Of course, it's from the Superintendent's Office."
"What does he want, Onee-sama?" Kuroko-chan asked with a worried frown.
Senpai growled in anger, sparks dancing across her forehead and she stomped her foot. "I've just been ordered to stay in Academy City to defend it."
Naru and her Senpai shared a look, a clear sign of resolve on their faces.
"Naru, no matter what?"
"Yep, it doesn't matter what it is, missions or not."
"We're saving Rui-chan." "We're saving Ruiko."
"You know, you are so lucky you don't have your powers at the moment." Accelerator grunted as he carried his barely awake girlfriend into a recently devastated Russian airbase that had probably been a victim of the conflict that last he checked the radio had already been formally dubbed World War 3. Did it suck that he had to carry her without his own power? Yes, yes it did.
Stupid stick thin body! Stupid gangling limbs! stupid lack of cardio! Accelerator grumbled in his mind. It did not help that Ruiko was wearing the backpack that had started out as her bugout bag and which carried their supplies. The damned thing was heavy!
"I wouldn't call being all but paralyzed and only being able to talk lucky, Accel." Ruiko retorted from where she was slung over his left shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Considering he needed the crutch on his right arm to keep stable, as undignified for Ruiko as it was, it was frankly the only way he could carry her.
Still, he winced a little. "This ain't exactly easy."
"And it isn't easy for me to be unable to walk under my own power." Ruiko shot back. "But there really is no other good way that you can manage to carry me without excessively limiting your range of motion."
"Yeah, I know." Accel replied with a grunt as he shifted her weight slightly in a desperate attempt to redistribute her weight better so his shoulder, his whole body really, would stop screaming in pain. "But I'm a cripple. What can ya do?"
"Well, you're a strong independent cripple that doesn't need no woman to be able to carry me like this at all."
Accel blushed at the tease and he was just glad that with her head hanging down over his back, Ruiko couldn't see his face. It saved his dignity somewhat as he half-heartedly shot back. "If I didn't need a woman, why am I carrying you? Now, shut up and rest, Ruiko."
"Okay~!" Ruiko replied with a giggle. "But seriously, how are you hanging on?"
"I'm managing." Accel replied to her genuine concern. "I just hope we can find something here that we can use to move you around soon. This place is pretty thoroughly wrecked though, you think we'll find anything?"
"Definitely." Ruiko said, sounding almost cheerful as she used the limited range of motion she seemed to have regained to toggle his collar on. "After all, those Magicians from the Russian Orthodox Church that I'm seeing trying to sneak up on you had to have got here somehow. It's not like teleportation magic is all that common."
"I'll trust you on that." Accel replied with a roll of his eyes as he felt several bursts of unfamiliar energy slam into the protective field around his body created by his automatic Redirection and be dissipated into harmless bursts of light. Ignoring that though, he breathed a sigh of relief at his power activating and immediately used his powers to reduce the gravity acting on Ruiko, making her lighter and rushed behind a sandbag wall where he gently set his girlfriend down. "I'll go deal with those Magicians and then we steal their ride?"
"Sounds like a plan." Ruiko said as she moved with stilted motions to draw her gun and check its loadout. "Now, go please. I don't want to end up like that guy over there." At this Accel looked over at where Ruiko was nodding and flinched when he saw a dead soldier who had similarly taken cover behind the sandbag wall they were hunkering behind only to discover that it was insufficient to save his life. "So go distract them so they don't blow up these sandbags and kill me."
"They'll hurt you over my dead body." Accel said as he used his powers to enhance his jump as he leapt over the sandbag barrier and right in front of the apparent Magicians, who for some stupid reason had lined up in a firing line straight out of the Napoleonic era. A stupid move that Ruiko ruthlessly exploited by blasting a pair away with a shotgun shell that she somehow fired from her pistol.
"You guys are really a bunch of idiots," Accel couldn't help but say even as he killed two more Magicians with vacuum blades. "Don't you morons know the meaning of cover?"
That was not to say the Magicians were complete buffoons though. The moment that Accel and Ruiko began fighting back, they scrambled for cover.
Okay, so they weren't idiots. Just overconfident fools who thought they had us cornered and decided that standing in the open to pummel us into oblivion was a good idea.
"They probably didn't recognize us!" Accel heard Ruiko shout in defense of their opponents' poor tactics even as she froze the legs of a couple of Magicians with cryo rounds, stopping them from reaching cover and leaving them open for Accel to finish off with a pair of lances of spiraling air. "I mean, why would the Russian Orthodox Church inform a bunch of low ranking grunts sent to clean up a battlefield anything about Academy City's Level 5s? It's not like they know we're in the area."
"Fair." Accel replied with a shrug as he conjured a pair of twisters that quickly sucked up the sandbags, wrecks and other debris around them that the Magicians they were fighting were using as cover. He even managed to catch a few of them in the tornadoes too. Those unlucky fools promptly had their heads caved in as he smashed them against the more sturdy debris he'd caught up in his winds. "But, Ruiko, question. Why do you have so many types of special bullets?"
"Why not?" Ruiko retorted as Accel dissipated his conjured twisters, letting the many things he'd caught up in them fall to the ground like deadly hail. "All the bullet types I use are actually off the shelf in the City's black market. Which reminds me, thanks for grabbing my bug out bag when we left the City. Without the ammo inside, I'd have run out ages ago. I mean it's not like we could've expected to be able to resupply from those Suits on the train."
"I wasn't worried about you running out of bullets when I took the bag." Accel pointed out as he took note that whilst the initial squad of ambushers had been dealt with, the dramatic way he had done so seemed to have attracted a lot of attention and had caused even more Magicians, the dead men's comrades probably, to scurry towards their position to engage them.
"Yes, I imagine so. I appreciate the tampons too. I expect my period soon." Ruiko said shamelessly, causing Accel to blush brilliantly.
Now, all this whilst, Accel had been bombarded by a whole host of supposedly magical attacks that ranged from blades of wind to icy projectiles to bursts of fire to lightning bolts. These were all things that he was more than familiar dealing with and had expected his Redirection to deflect accordingly and it did, most of the time. Some of it however, instead of deflecting it in the way he expected, just dispersed, partially or in whole, in bursts of light.
"Ruiko, any idea why some of these attacks are decomposing into light?"
"It's because of the pure magical component of some of those attacks." Ruiko explained as she used some HE rounds to blow up what looked to be a wrecked armor vehicle of some kind that a group of Magicians were using as cover, forcing them into the open whereupon she silenced them with a shotgun round. "When it's forced to conform to the world's rules instead of its own it'll just break down into the raw energy that composed it, usually dissipating in the form of harmless bursts of light."
"And how do you know this? Why do you know so much about this 'magic' anyways?" Accel asked, as growing tired of the seemingly never ending stream of incoming Magicians, he conjured dozens of twisters that he had begun sweeping through the base and cleansing it of the pests.
"I'll explain when I wake up." Ruiko said, prompting Accel to quickly turn towards her only to see her offering him a grim smile. "I'm going to black out again."
"You have terrible timing." Accel said as he used his powers to fly over to Ruiko's side. "Did you use your powers?"
"Yeah, a little." Ruiko admitted sheepishly as she holstered her gun. "I thought I could use it to help me aim better. As you can see it didn't pay of-."
Accel just sighed as Ruiko froze up. "Like I said, you have terrible timing, Ruiko."
Shaking his head, he picked his girlfriend back up and settled her on his shoulder. With her properly secured, he turned to survey the wrecked base around them and quickly spotted that one of the Magicians was actually still alive. Stalking towards the unconscious magician, the Number 1 Esper grabbed the mook by the collar with his free hand. A feral grin came over his face. Ruiko might have passed out but he was going to get the low down on this whole magic nonsense and this goon was going to help him do that.
But just as he was going to shake the fucker awake, he spotted an Academy City plane flying overhead and as he glanced up at it, he saw a lone paratrooper jumping out of the thing. A commando that was ringing alarm bells in Accel's brain. There was just something about the overall shape of the soldier's body, even through their visible body armor, that seemed to make Accel think of a Sister.
But that can't be! All the Sisters are accounted for and none of them are working for the City's military!
"Tch, just one more chump. Fuck, just get a grip and take them down. It's not a clone, just another cheap trick from the City." Accel said with faux annoyance as he desperately tried to convince himself that the descending parachutist was not a Sister despite what his pattern recognition was telling him.
As he tossed the magical bitch boy to the ground, the incoming trooper, contrary to Accel's expectations, deployed a glider in midair instead of a standard parachute, but he nevertheless dragged his foot in the snow, making a small mound and with a quick calculation kicked the snowball at the wing of the glider. The thing broke like a paper mache kite, falling to pieces and letting the user fall with it.
Priceless.
The masked fucker didn't even seem fazed however, and instead detached her glider, and now that she was closer it was clear that she was female, and fired a lightning bolt from her hands to slow her fall sufficiently to land safely.
Accel was about to offer some snarky praise at the impressive landing but the words were caught in his throat when the previously opaque faceplate of helmet that the paratrooper wore turned transparent and revealed a face that haunted his dreams. Much to his horror, Accel found himself once more facing a Misaka clone as an opponent.
"Oi, Number 1, Misaka sneers." The clone glared at him. "I'm here to kill you, Misaka declares her intention to wipe out the killer of her kind!"
Heart beating like a drum, Accel reached out to his connection with the Misaka Network and tried to get a fix on the Sister standing before him. As far as he knew, all the Sisters were accounted for, the ones still alive after he-no, fuck! Pay attention!
"Oh, trying to find me on the Misaka Network? Misaka asks maliciously." The irregular Sister said with a twisted smirk. "Let me help you. Misaka offers malevolently."
As she said that, a new connection suddenly opened up on the Misaka Network. A connection that dripped with animosity towards him. One that seemed to somehow be a collection of all the natural anger and hatred that the Sisters felt towards him for what he had done to their kind. A connection to a Sister that was driven by nothing else but a desire to see him die and avenge her massacred sisters. A connection that led to the Misaka Sister standing before him now.
And as the conclusion dawned on him, there was only one thing he could do. He ran. He felt like a coward, but he refused to fight the Sister. He had sworn he would never hurt another Sister and nothing would change that.
Never again, I won't see those dead eyes ever again!
"Oi oi, Misaka chastises. You think you can run from your sins, you fucking sack of shit?! Misaka screams out, taking aim at Saten."
That gave him pause as he turned to confront his opponent. As he did, he saw a sudden flash in the direction of the Sister. Moments later, he let out a cry and he fell to the ground as his left arm exploded with pain, dropping Ruiko in the process, a puff of snow following her fall. Since when did they have enough power for a railgun?!
"Heh, you fell for it, Misaka gloats as she comes closer." The Sister said as she grinned wickedly, acting like some kind of predator.
Shit, shit, shit! Accel cursed himself as he struggled to move, but hampered by the sharp pain of the injury caused by the Sister's railgun and how it clouded his thoughts. I should have been able to reflect that! Wait, if I did, it would have hurt her… d-did I unconsciously turn off my Redirection so that I didn't?
It seemed like Academy City had sent the ultimate killer after him. An assassin that would cripple his resolve and will to live by exploiting one of his few mental weaknesses.
No way, wait, yeah! Last Order! She'd override any command to a Sister to kill me or Ruiko. As the realization came to him, a feral grin of his own spread across his face as he pushed past his pain and gathering his power, he pushed himself to his feet. That means this so-called 'Sister' is nothing more than a fake!
A low chuckle escaped him, a laugh that soon turned into one of his trademark higher pitch laughs. "Oi oi, you dumb bitch. You think you're clever? I'm onto you and your shit! That helmet of yours is just a screen projecting a deepfake of a Misaka isn't it?"
He let his injured arm flail limply as he cracked the fingers on his other hand. His eyes narrowed into pinpricks, he glared at the false Sister and fired a bullet of wind.
Aimed right at her head.
The bullet shattered the Sister's helmet, sending her toppling to the ground and much more importantly, revealed through the wrecked visor the same visage that ruled Accel's nightmares.
Oi, that's not funny, that's-! No, no no no no no no! She was supposed to be fake! Why isn't she fake?! Why? Why? Why?!
As the truth hit him, he could only let out a scream as he dropped to his knees and looked at his hands, his vision blinded by the oceans of invisible blood that covered them.
As Ruiko regained consciousness, the first thing she noticed was that her brain felt like it had been stuffed with cotton. And as she blinked her eyes weakly and tried to move, her body simply refused to comply, instead remaining stiff and motionless.
"Tch, just one more chump. Fuck, just get a grip and take them down. It's not a clone, just another cheap trick from the City." Her boyfriend muttered, trying to convince himself. He knew, just as she did, that the City wouldn't send a fake Sister after them. The bastard Directors knew they would not dare harm a Sister, not with their history with them, so what better assassin to send after them? So, no, this might not be a Sister they knew, but it was still one of Mikoto-senpai's clones. That she could sense that the girl approaching them after paradropping into the wrecked air base was using Radio Noise just proved it.
Ruiko desperately tried to open her mouth, to tell Accel to not kill their pursuer! To warn him that their latest attacker was really a Sister! Sadly, like with the rest of her body, her mouth refused to move and all she managed was a few unintelligible sounds that Accel couldn't hear or otherwise ignored.
She thus could not do anything as Accel first, wisely, turned to flee from the clone only to be cut off by a railgun shot by the hostile Misaka. All she could do as she was sent tumbling into the snow was look on in mute horror as despite subconsciously realizing what he faced to the point where his Redirection shut down in the face of the clone, Accel, in his desperation to escape the situation, convinced himself that the Sister was a fake.
"Oi oi, you dumb bitch. You think you're clever? I'm onto you and your shit! That helmet of yours is just a screen projecting a deepfake of a Misaka isn't it?"
Accel, no! Don't do it! Ruiko screamed in her mind, only for it to come out as a barely audible, incoherent mess.
She thus was unable to do anything as her boyfriend shot an air bullet at the attacking Misaka's head, shattering the helmet of its custom Powered Suit, jerking the clone's head back with enough force to break its neck, and sending it tumbling toward the ground. Not that Ruiko cared at all what happened to the bitch.
No, her full attention was focused on Accelerator. As the clone's helmet had broken apart and revealed her unobscured face, he had finally accepted the truth. And the truth broke him.
Letting out a wordless wail that would haunt Ruiko's nightmares, he collapsed to his knees and brought his hands to his face, where he looked at them in horror. His screams only grew louder as he folded in on himself, until the strain of everything proved too much and he passed out, toppling over onto his side as he did.
The Number 3's heart broke at the sight and she intensified her efforts to move.
Move dammit! Move! She cursed mentally and through muffled incoherent screams that barely escaped her sealed lips as she poured all her will into her efforts. In response, her fingers twitched as she finally regained some of her motor functions. Her control began to spread from there and soon she regained command of her arms. At least enough that with her fingers digging into the ground like claws, the brunette was able to crawl towards her boyfriend.
"Ac-Accel." She coughed out, her throat dry, raw and hurting as her voice belatedly returned to her.
Sadly, being unconscious, he did not hear her. She needed to get closer! Closer! She had to reach him! He needed her help! Accel needed her!
Move, you stupid body! Move! She chided herself, feeling angry and ashamed at her own weakness.
She caught movement in the corner of her eye, seeing the unknown Sister stagger to her feet. No doubt her Powered Suit helped her in some regard.
"Oi oi, Misaka points out with a snarl." The Sister said, taking a stumbling step forward as she pulled out a nail from one of the suit's many pockets and lined it up with the obvious intent to fire at them. "Hey, Number Three, looking like a real slug there, Misaka taunts the helpless Level 5."
The clone smiled, sharp and cruel in almost a deranged way. It was the same face as Order-chan, Mikoto-senpai and their many sisters and it was a face that Ruiko had come to love. But that this girl wore the same face as her daughter was nothing less than a mockery. She did not deserve even the slightest resemblance to Ruiko's precocious little darling.
"I know what you're thinking. Misaka taunts. You're thinking that you'll stop it, right? Misaka hypothesizes. You think you can stop me from killing the Number One and from Third Season clones like me replacing the obsolete previous gen Sisters. Misaka continues sneeringly. But you know what? Misaka asks rhetorically. A weakling like you? You can't do shit! Misaka declares with vicious amusement. Say hello to the new model Sister that'll be replacing all the Sisters, including that little runt you keep. Misaka sadistically drives the point home further."
At the threat to her child, Ruiko's heart pounded with a rage she had never felt before in her entire life. She had not been this angry even when her life and/or the lives of Kaasan and her siblings had been threatened in the past. The rage she felt now eclipsed the anger she felt at those times by an astronomical scale. She could practically feel her blood boiling. All she wanted in that moment was to destroy the twisted mockery of a Sister and its distant controller back in the City. She wished for nothing else than for them to cease to exist!
In the face of such unprecedented anger, it did not surprise Ruiko at all that her powers, destabilized as they were by her becoming the anchor for Academy City's Angels of Science, reacted. They had never failed to react to her strong emotions and what she felt now was perhaps the strongest emotions she had felt in all her life.
Thus she was unfazed when a corona of color surrounded her body unbidden, nor did she bat an eye as a beam shot from it and slammed into the abomination that was the so-called Third Season Sister. She did however smile with bloodthirsty satisfaction as the clone let out an agonized scream and she watched in grim satisfaction as the other girl was slowly, painfully consumed by the energies she'd involuntarily released. First, her Powered Suit disintegrated, its armor offering it and its user little protection as it was destroyed within moments. Next came her skin and as if sensing her desire to make the clone suffer, her power slowed things down and gruesomely systematically flayed the Mikoto-senpai lookalike alive. Lastly, it was the turn of the other girl's flesh and bones. And again likely responding to Ruiko's desires, her powers changed tack and sped things up once more. She had by now grown tired of the other girl's suffering and just wanted her dead.
By this point she was equally as uncaring for the suffering of the girl's handler back in the City, thus by the time her power reached across the thousands of kilometers between where she was and her home, it too gave its other target a swift end. This came in the form of the nondescript office building that housed the secret base that the Third Season Sister's handler was operating from being abruptly surrounded by a rainbow colored twister and swiftly worn down into nothingness by the violent conjuration.
Good riddance to bad rubbish. Ruiko thought dismissively as the last remains of the twisted clone, some withered bones, were reduced to a fine powder that was promptly blown away by the Siberian winds.
Ignoring that for the distraction that it was, the [AIM Sovereign] examined Accel. He was out cold from his breakdown.
We need help. She concluded as she slowly, stumblingly, got to her feet. She had to fight to stay balanced with every step, but through sheer determination she managed to eventually pull herself to her feet and staggered over to Accel. At the same time, she drew her gun from her holster under her skirt and changed out its magazine.
Was it a good idea to do two things at once when she could barely even walk? Probably not. However, she needed to be as close to Accel as possible. If she passed out or froze, she needed to be right next to him to maximize the chances of whoever she summoned with what she was about to do next, taking her with him. Plus she did not know how long she could maintain control of her body, which meant that she had to make the best use of what time she had.
Here goes nothing. Ruiko thought grimly as she aimed her gun skyward and emptied her clip, sending a whole magazine of the speciality flare rounds she'd loaded into it fly into the heavens.
Hopefully someone will see that and come and investigate. Ruiko thought helplessly as she heard her gun click empty with her latest pull of the trigger. I just hope that whoever does come, it won't be enemies.
It was a risk. A huge risk even. Considering the City had just tracked them down and sent an assassin to kill them, there was a high likelihood they would be the ones that would find them and Ruiko had just signed her and Accel's death warrants. But it was a risk she was willing to take. With Accel unconscious and with her condition making it highly unsafe for her to take care of him, they needed help. Even if she regained full mobility, something she was still struggling to do, she would not be able to tell when she would just black out or freeze again. And if Accel had not recovered by then, they would very likely die of exposure due to the frigid Siberian weather.
That was not to say however that she was not going to at least try to prepare herself for the worst case scenario of being found by their enemies. With that mind, she quickly reloaded her gun with a fresh magazine of lethal rounds. If any of their foes found them, she would not go down without a fight if she could help it.
That said, at the moment, her priority was not self-defense. She had a hurt boyfriend to care for. Putting thought to action, she holstered her gun and knelt down to the still unconscious Accelerator.
"It's okay. It will be all okay, I promise." Ruiko reassured her albino knight as she pulled him into a hug.
Ruiko didn't know if she was saying that to comfort him, herself, or maybe both. All she knew right now was that she wanted to see her family again. She felt so tired.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
And so we start it, the famed WW3 Arc! Boy dang, this is going to be some of our best work yet. I just feel it. We've got so many ideas in store for you readers you cannot even imagine! A lot of things are under wraps, but know that the Trinity is going to be doing some big things.
Personally, what I loved the most in this chapter were the flirty exchange between Accel and Ruiko as they hiked about in Siberia and Accel's breakdown at realizing 'shit, I'm fighting a real Sister'! Loved writing that part btw.
Nameless: Agreed. They were indeed the highlights of the chapter!
Of course the other 2/3rds of the Trinity are going about their own things, with Naru no doubt coming to help out her bestie! Hopefully. Maybe? Who knows! Mikoto is stuck being the oldest child grounded at the City to girl the fort in this case.
Nameless: Indeed. Our plans will offer us a chance to showcase more of the full scope of the war that is somewhat lacking in canon with its focus on Touma. We have Ruiko and Accel on the run; Naru fighting for the City; and Mikoto hanging back to defend the City. Hopefully, this greater breadth will entertain you all.
Okay, before we sign off, just want to clarify why we've been away for a long bit. Basically, IRL has changed for us quite a bit. As a result, our writing schedule had to adapt. We think we've got things back on track, albeit a different one, so updates should be incoming. That said, they might be a little longer apart nowadays. We thank you for your patience.
E4E: Yeah, IRL has taken a big dive regarding our free time, so we will be doing our best to still pump out chapters with our usual quality. So no frets, we love to write and this chapter is just our way of saying thanks for your patience. We will adapt as best we can to continue our production.
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!