Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter One Hundred: War in Paradise - The Hunt for Trigger
Lounging in the suitably comfortable office chair of the well equipped and appointed meeting room of the Halekulani hotel that they had booked to allow Mugino, her team and their allies to meet with the American President - Who for some reason was operating entirely on his own. - to discuss the increasingly annoying Hawaiian mission, [Meltdowner] waited to hear the latest developments.
"So Mister President, since you are our ally now and all, do you think you could order the American forces to stop making our lives so difficult?" The combat cyborg, Kuroyoru, asked teasingly as they all finished taking their seats after they finished securing the room. They hadn't found any listening devices and it was reasonably well protected against remote eavesdropping but it never hurt to be careful.
"Yeah," Frenda said with an agreeing nod. "That would be great. Sneaking past the American forces that responded to the fighting at Coral Street Mall was a total pain! They were so much more observant than what we're used to from Anti-Skill and the other organizations we deal with back in Academy City. And that was with them being distracted and confused with all the civilians that we evacuated out of the place before things got out of hand!"
"Glad to hear that my people are better than the vaunted forces of Academy City." President Katze said with a proud grin.
"I wouldn't say that about Anti-Skill, but yeah, you Americans are pretty damned good." Namikaze said with a frown. "I mean, at least, our shadows had the sense to realize that they were outclassed and knew to not get involved in the fight this time. They can learn, which is a step better than most organizations I've had to deal with."
"Got to agree with you there, [ManiForce]." Kinuhata agreed. "They were even smart enough to actually help distract the police and military that responded to the attack to make it easier for us to slip away."
Hamazura nodded and added his two cents. "Not just that. They even took over the processing of the kids we rescued and those guys Irivika blackmailed into attacking us so the other forces wouldn't hear about us and decide they needed to hunt us down."
"I'm not surprised." President Katze said, nodding his head with a proud grin. "The American intelligence services are eminently practical, too much so at times. They probably reasoned exactly like Namikaze-san outlined and decided to leave things in your capable hands. Though I imagine my presence also threw them for a loop. They're probably scrambling to come up with a plan to recover me. Which means we don't have much time left to get things done."
"What do you mean by that?" The [Railgun] asked with a frown.
"You see, I am operating entirely on my own."
"Why, by Science, would you do that?" The Trinity's Teleporter friend asked, her face scrunched up into a look of confusion. "Aren't you the President of the United States? Why would you, of all people, need to work on your own?"
"I understand your surprise," the president said with an embarrassed look on his face. "But you see, a large part of the American government, including my cabinet, have been compromised by Gremlin courtesy of being mind controlled by that Russian Magician, Irivika. Thanks to that, I didn't know who to trust so I snuck out from the watch of the Secret Service and struck out alone. So if I'm caught by American forces there's a good chance it'll be by elements suborned by the enemy and if that happens it might as well be game over. If they get me under their control, they can use my authority to turn the full weight of American might against their enemies."
Everyone, Mugino included, shifted uncomfortably. She might be a Level 5 but she was hardly unstoppable. A fact she was reminded of by Hamazura defeating her during the Battle Royale Incident and the events of World War 3. Taking that into account, taking on the firepower of the world's hyperpower was just plain suicidal.
"Okay." Hamazura said hurriedly, changing the subject. "That explains why you're running solo, Mister President, but why were you at Coral Street?"
"Following up on a lead." The Hispanic man replied whilst radiating an air of smugness at the kind of reaction that the reminder of his nation's capabilities had engendered. "About the same time that the attack at the mall started, I was also attacked by one of the people whose loved one was taken hostage by Irivika. I learned from the guy responsible for the attack that there was another one happening at the mall so figuring that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, I headed over as fast as I could to help. I didn't think that my would-be friends would turn out to be Academy City's finest though."
This guy is a charmer. I can see how he became the President of the United States. Mugino thought as she saw a number of her fellow Academy City residents preen at his compliment.
Rolling her eyes at them, Mugino pressed the matter of how exactly the American President was in a position to suddenly show up at Coral Mall to save Accelerator. "And why were you, Mister President, here in Hawaii anyway?"
"I'm actually here to look for something."
"What exactly?" The Trinity's friend, the computer whiz, the [Goalkeeper], asked.
"A device that I managed to figure out is what Gremlin is after before I made a run for it from the White House: a Small Scale Induction-Style Active Volcano Controlling Device, or more snazzily known as a Trigger device."
Namikaze whistled. "Is that name accurate or is it aggrandizing?"
"It's the real deal." The president assured them. "It is a technology developed by the United States military for the purpose of inducing a controlled eruption of volcanoes. It's been field tested and everything."
"Ruiko?" Accelerator asked, looking at his girlfriend questioningly.
She just nodded in affirmation of the president's claim.
"What would Gremlin want with that?" Kamijou asked with a frown.
"Don't tell me…" Hamazura began, only to trail off as his face paled.
"They want to use it of course." President Katze said with a shrug. "Based on what I figured out, they plan to use it to cause an eruption of Kīlauea, the largest active volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. The plan seems to use this attack against America to shame it and by proxy the Science Side in international affairs and destabilize its economy. If that worked, they probably intend to then trigger a chain reaction with other volcanoes creating a huge catastrophe, possibly killing hundreds of thousands of people from several nations. That would create plenty of opportunity for them to take advantage of to pursue their other nebulous aims."
[Multi-Skill] shot the American President a narrowed eyed look at this declaration and asked, "And how did you figure all this out? Unless you are some super genius and have been hiding it throughout your entire public life-"
"Oh! Nothing of the sort!" The politician said with a shake of his head. "I figured all this out thanks to the Imperial Package, a supercomputer that has access to all American government cloud systems. Due to the sensitive nature of the material contained within said systems, as the President of the United States of America, I am the only person who has access to it. And it was whilst using it that I first noticed the queer circumstances surrounding my government. Particularly, the fact that people unrelated to Trigger were somehow trying to find information regarding it. That got me digging and after a while, I figured everything out."
The Birdway girl snorted at this. "I imagine the computer did most of the work."
Instead of being insulted, the president nodded unabashedly. "Totally."
"And where is this Imperial Package now?" The [Goalkeeper] cut in. "It could be very useful if we had access to it."
Lifting the silver colored attaché case that he kept with him at all times, the American replied. "I've got it right here. But considering the kind of sensitive data it can access, I'm going to have to keep it on my person. No one but me is allowed to use it."
"I understand." The computer whiz said with a pout that if Mugino was not as jaded as she was, she would have called adorable.
"It's not that great a loss, Kazari." The Number 3 told the Level 1 soothingly. "You still have access to Eden Corp's entire computer network as support for your hacking if you need it. It might not be as powerful as that Imperial Package but it's still plenty powerful."
I know you're trying to be comforting [AIM Sovereign] but isn't it arrogant of you to compare your company's computing resources to those of the entire American government!? Mugino thought with a disgusted shake of her head. Talk about hubris!
The [Goalkeeper] must have surely known that too but for some reason she was still comforted by her best friend's words and shot her a grateful smile in thanks.
Why? Is it because her friend is comforting her? Mugino thought with a frown. I don't understand.
"Okay, setting the Imperial Package aside." The [Railgun], of all people, spoke up in a bid to direct things back on track. "Are you here in Hawaii because you figured out Gremlin already has the Trigger and is targeting Kīlauea or-"
"It's the other way around actually." The man said with a shake of his head. "Gremlin is targeting Kīlauea because it's convenient. It's the biggest volcano nearby where the Trigger is."
"So this Trigger thing is in Hawaii?" Kamijou asked, looking like he really wished that was not the case.
Mugino shot him an unimpressed look. This was the boy that Accelerator recognized as a Hero!? Considering how adverse he seemed to be towards doing anything on this mission, he was not leaving a good impression at all.
If he wanted no part in this, why did he agree to help Birdway set this up?
Shooting the [Imagine Breaker] with a similar look to her own, Hamazura sighed before turning back to address the American President. "Well, you're the president, aren't you, sir? Why don't you just pull rank and go into Pearl Harbor to check if Trigger is still there?"
Mugino had to nod along with Hamazura's question. Because of course if the Trigger was in Hawaii, it would have to be Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and thus one of the most heavily secured places in the world. And as it was an American base, why couldn't the country's president just use his credentials to demand entry to check on the devices.
"I could." The president agreed. "But need I remind you that my government has been compromised? If I did that, I would just be risking my capture."
"Not if we go with you." Takitsubo lazily pointed out as she woke up from the light doze she'd been in since the start of the meeting and lifted her head from Hamazura's shoulder.
"Yeah. With me there, I'd teach anyone stupid enough to try anything what it means to mess with the world's Number One Esper." Accelerator boasted.
The albino's girlfriend shook her head in fond exasperation at his antics even as she addressed the American. "Is there no one you can trust at the base?"
"Under normal circumstances? Plenty. But right now, I don't know if they can still be trusted or if the Magician has managed to get to them." The politician said with a shake of his head.
"Speaking of that," The Trinity's Teleporter began, turning to look at Birdway. "How do we know we can trust-"
"He's not under mind-control." The Magician assured her. "It was the first thing I checked."
The Teleporter nodded in satisfaction but nevertheless looked to the Number 3 for confirmation.
"I'm not seeing anything in his mind that suggests he is." [Multi-Skill] said with a shrug. "I'm confident he's not under Irivika's control."
If the president was unnerved by having his mind read, he didn't show it. Instead, he just smiled as if it wasn't a gross invasion of a person's privacy. Mugino was just glad that as an Electromaster, she had a natural defense against telepathy. Though that did not stop a frown from spreading across her face at the mention of the Number 3's mind reading.
The way that she can use practically every Esper ability is just bullshit!
Perhaps sharing her frustration, Kamijou sighed.
"So we're expecting a fight when you take us into Pearl Harbor?"
"I'm afraid so." President Katze said, sounding apologetic.
What is there to apologize for!? Kamijou should have known what he was signing up for when he agreed to this mission!
"If we're worried about running into people who have been mind controlled by Irivika at the base then I'll go with the team headed there." Birdway spoke up. "My ability to test for those under Irivika's control isn't foolproof based on observation alone and we can't demand everyone we meet let themselves be examined to make sure but it'll help a little."
The American nodded. "Agreed. If we can have even some idea of who at the base we can trust then getting in might not be too difficult."
"Okay, so how are we going to split things up?"
For some reason, Namikaze's question caused Kamijou to turn to the Number 2 with a confused look.
Seriously!? How can he not get it!? Mugino thought with exasperated disbelief as she prepared to angrily lay into the clear idiot.
She was prevented from doing so however by Accelerator taking pity on the [Imagine Breaker] and stepping up to explain things to the fool. "It's simple, Hero. We can't be sure that Gremlin hasn't already secured Trigger, so we need to send a team to Pearl Harbor to make sure."
"Yeah, I got that part."
"But," Hamazura spoke up, picking up where the Number 1 left off. "We also need another team to head to Kīlauea to make sure they haven't already planted the devices there."
"Ah! I get it now." Kamijou said with a proud grin, much to everyone's exasperation and President Katze's amusement.
"Idiot." Kinuhata muttered under her breath, summing up Mugino's thoughts on the [Imagine Breaker] quite nicely.
"Alright. So who wants to head to the volcano with me?"
"With you, Namikaze?" Mugino asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"Anyone else here think they have a better chance at stopping an eruption if the Triggers have already set things up to cause one?" The [Elemental Empress] shot back.
"Point." The Number 6 conceded. "My team will accompany you then. If our enemies have set up the Triggers already, they'll have left something to defend them too. We'll deal with whatever they are so you don't get distracted from handling the volcano."
"If Onee-san's team is going then so am I!" Kuroyoru piped up, waving her hands, including about a dozen of those tentacle-like prosthetics she was so fond of using, in the air excitedly to attract everyone's attention.
"I'm not your sister!" Kinuhata shot back heatedly as she and her fellow Dark May survivor soon degenerated into a playful argument over whether they were siblings.
Though her protests are getting milder every time. I wonder if Kinuhata even notices. Mugino noted with amusement. A feeling that by the look she exchanged with Takitsubo and Hamazura, the rest of ITEM shared.
"Naru-chan, do you really think you can stop Kīlauea from erupting if it's already been set off?" The Number 3 asked, looking at the Number 2 worriedly.
"To be honest? It's a long shot." The pigtailed blonde admitted. "I can theoretically do it, but lava manipulation isn't exactly my forte. And I've never used it on a scale as large as an actual volcano before."
"If you need to, give it a try anyway." The [Railgun] demanded rather unreasonably.
[ManiForce] wasn't offended however, if anything she was encouraged by what the Number 5 had said. "Don't worry, Senpai. I will."
"Whilst Naru-chan, ITEM and Kuroyoru-san are doing that, President Katze, could we trouble you to allow Accel, Mikoto-senpai, Kamijou-san and Birdway-san to accompany you as you go into Pearl Harbor to check if Gremlin has got their hands on the Triggers yet?"
"You do realize that considering the time that's passed since I realized they were being targeted, going to Pearl Harbor is likely a fool's errand, right, Miss Saten?"
"Maybe." The [Railgun] answered on her kohai's behalf. "But it still needs to be done and since you're our best bet of avoiding a full-scale battle with the base's security if things go awry, will you help us get in?"
The president sighed but nevertheless nodded his agreement.
"Ruiko, what are you and your other friends going to be doing whilst the rest of us are away?" The Number 1 asked his girlfriend whilst shooting her a curious look.
"Looking at things from another angle." Saten explained with a sly grin.
It was a look that once upon a time would have Mugino feeling the urge to burn it off the Number 3's face with one of her Particle-Function Waveform High Speed Cannons. Now though, she just rolled her eyes. If the girl wanted to flaunt her abilities, let her! Mugino was confident enough in her own ability and her place in the world to not be too upset by the more powerful Level 5's show of arrogance. It still rankled but not enough for her to want to start anything.
Unaware, and most likely uncaring if she was about Mugino's thoughts, the Number 3 continued. "Frenda-chan, Kazari, Kuroko-san and I will be staying behind. Whilst everyone tries to hunt down Trigger, we will research the FCE and the Blueshake Media Network that runs it to see how exactly it's connected to our enemy and how we might be able to exploit that connection."
Accelerator wasn't satisfied with that answer and arched an eyebrow as he questioned her further. "I understand you and the two Judgment agents staying back to do that but why the Norwegian too?"
"Well, someone has to be the resident gopher whilst those three work and be around to remind them that they need to breathe, don't they?" Frenda-chan said with a giggle. "If not, the three workaholics are liable to get so engrossed in their work that they'd forget they need oxygen to survive."
Tickled by the joke, [Multi-Skill] and the [Goalkeeper] both giggled and even the Teleporter smirked in amusement. Most of those familiar with the aforementioned three workaholics likewise laughed in agreement with Frenda's joking take on things. Accelerator was decidedly less amused however as he rolled his eyes at the poor attempt at humor.
I see Frenda's jokes haven't gotten any better since her defection.
"Alright, that makes sense." The albino said nevertheless.
"It totally does." Namikaze agreed with a smile. "And since that means everything is decided, it's time to move out! We have no time to waste! Every second we spend is potentially another second that Gremlin is closer to carrying out whatever nefarious plan they have cooked up!"
Mugino rolled her eyes at the Number 2's overdramatic little speech but she didn't disagree, so she said nothing and followed suit as everyone jumped to their feet and began splitting into their respective teams to begin carrying out the tasks they'd been assigned.
Mikoto had to admit. Doing a search and destroy mission whilst accompanied by a VIP? Not the best thing in the world. While President Katze seemed cool for an old guy and even got them entry into Pearl Harbor with little trouble thanks to his rank, having him around was also stressful as hell. What the hell would they do if something happened to him!? Could they take responsibility!? Mikoto didn't want to know.
She was just thankful that Accelerator and Kamijou were on her team. She could trust them to pull their weight in doing their best to accomplish their mission of hunting down the Trigger whilst simultaneously, and, more importantly, keeping President Katze safe. Sadly Birdy Girl had also tagged along like the leech she was, claiming that she needed to come along to check people for being mind controlled by that Russian bitch. It was a valid argument, hence why she was with them now, but Mikoto didn't trust her. She was fairly sure that the Magician would ditch them the moment that doing so would serve her interests.
"So good of you to accommodate me, Bax." President Katze said to Bax Sliver, the commander of Pearl Harbor base, who was leading them around the base whilst he offered the man a smile that oozed charisma.
Apparently, the president knew the man by name. Proving to be the smooth talker he was, President Katze had managed to have the military man overlook how the President wasn't being followed around by the Secret Service. Apparently it was something the man did regularly to get up to business that his cabinet and, much less, the public would not approve of.
"You're the commander and chief, Sir. You say jump, all I can do is ask 'how high?'." The soldier said with a shrug. "Though I really wish you would not show up at Pearl's front gate out of nowhere and summon me by name. I would've appreciated a call ahead of time. Scrambling a security team that can keep you safe on short notice isn't easy."
"But you managed it anyway," President Katze said, patting the base commander on his back as their group walked through Pearl Harbor base whilst escorted by a sizable detachment of soldiers. "Good job, Bax!"
I'm not 100% sure what the exact name for a unit like this is? But I guess we have something like a whole section of men? Mikoto thought as she surveyed the professional looking soldiers acting as their escorts. Ever since the Trinity had become an official Dark Side outfit, she'd been learning all kinds of things including military stuff like how an army was organized but sadly it was still a work in progress.
"So you mentioned earlier that the Trigger is being shipped over to the mainland, Commander Silver?" Birdy Girl asked.
In response to her question, Commander Silver glanced towards his president and only upon receiving a nod did he answer.
"We've recently received some intelligence that they might be targeted by hostile parties hence we planned to ship them over to a more secure facility.
"You've received intelligence to that effect? From whom?" President Katze asked with a frown.
"Your aide, Miss Roseline Krackhart, Sir."
"So she has been following my trail and managed to put the pieces together too, huh?" President Katze mused. "As expected of Roseline."
At this point, they reached one of Pearl Harbor's runways where there was a pair of four engine jet planes with distinctive high T-tail fin stabilizers and their aft cargo doors open, presumably so that the Trigger devices could be loaded onto them.
Huh? Those are C-5 Galaxies aren't they? Mikoto mused as she identified the two transport planes.
"Are those the planes that the Triggers are supposed to be being loaded onto?" Accelerator asked with a frown.
Instead of replying, Commander Silver again looked towards President Katze but the politician simply looked the planes over with a hum and a rub of his chin. "Alright, Silver, my team and I are going to inspect the planes alone. Have your men fan out and secure the area while we do our job."
Huh, weird. For all his friendliness with Commander Silver, the President clearly didn't seem to trust him or his men to not be under Gremlin's control.
The commander's face twisted into what could best be described as an ugly grimace. Clearly he was insulted by the lack of trust from his commander and chief. Yet instead of protesting, he eventually just sighed and nodded. "Yes sir."
"Good, do your country proud, boys. Kamijou-san, Misaka-san, with me. We'll take the plane on the right."
"Then Accelerator-san and I will take the other." Birdy Girl said with a nod. "That is acceptable."
"Good that we're all in agreement, Team. Let's move out!"
With their roles decided, they split into their two respective teams and proceeded to head off to investigate their assigned planes.
"So where to start?" Kamijou asked, looking around the massive cargo bay of the C-5 Galaxy as they walked up the ramp into the inside of the plane.
"It's a cargo plane, so the cargo area. Duh." Mikoto teased him, causing him to flush in embarrassment.
"Good point." He confessed as they moved deeper into the cargo bay which was already full of a large number of crates and other diverse pieces of equipment. "But, um, sorry to repeat myself, 'cause there's a lot of stuff in here."
"There should be a Loadmaster overseeing the loading of all this cargo." President Katze informed them as they cleared the ramp and into the cargo bay proper. "If we want to make sense of what's in here, our best bet is to find them and ask them to show us what's what in this mess."
"And where do you think we'll be able to find them?" Mikoto asked, looking around for anyone that might fit the description of a Loadmaster and finding no one, just seemingly endless pallets of carefully secured cargo.
"We'll try down here first." The president said before gesturing above them. "If we can't find them here then we can try the flight operations on the upper deck. If not, then we'll have to ask Silver to call them for us. I would rather not though."
"Because you think he might be mind controlled?" Kamijou asked with a frown. "If so, why don't I use my right hand on him?"
"'Cos everyone who matters knows what that right hand of yours is capable of and so if you touched him with it, it could cause problems." President Katze said with a shrug. "Accusations of a lack of trust and whatnot."
He had just finished explaining when suddenly the aft cargo door that they had walked in through began to shut behind them.
"They're closing the door? What's going on?" Mikoto asked with surprise.
Is this a trap? Mikoto thought as she prepared to use her Electromastery to shut down the plane's systems and whatever trap was being sprung on them at the same time.
"Don't even think about it, Misaka-san." President Katze said, putting a quelling hand on one of Mikoto's shoulders. "If you use that Esper power of yours on the plane, you'll likely brick it. One of these planes costs $167.7 million, you think you can afford that?"
$167.7 million!? Mikoto thought, shooting the American president with a look of shock.
"Um, is the plane taxiing?" Kamijou asked nervously as they lurched a little at a sudden pickup of speed.
"I'd say so, Kid. Quick, to the cockpit!"
Making their way towards the cockpit, they were halted by the very person they were hunting down suddenly stepping out from behind a particularly tall and wide pallet of cargo.
"Irivika." Kamijou glowered at the sight, his right fist balled up so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.
"Welcome, [Imagine Breaker] and friends." The Russian Magician said in English as she tugged lightly on the sides of her skirt and offered them a curtsy. "I assume you are here to locate the Trigger?"
Before Mikoto or Kamijou could reply, President Katze pulled out a pistol and whilst rapidly moving into cover behind a large metal crate, fired off a shot at Irivika's head. In response, with supernatural speed, the Russian spun away from the bullet causing it to miss her by a fair margin.
"Misaka-san! I'll handle her! Protect the president!" Kamijou ordered as he charged at Irivika even as with a sudden lurch, the C-5 began to tilt upwards. It looked like it was taking off. Despite that, acting with superhuman balance that he had no right to have, Kamijou just kept charging. Heck! He was doing so whilst simultaneously evading the wooden lances that Irivika had used magic to grow at supernatural speed out of seeds she had pulled from the satchel she wore and hurled at him with a flick of her wrist.
Due to her surprise at the superhuman demonstration of ability that her crush was displaying, Mikoto literally forgot to feel affronted at him ordering her around. In fact, she almost forgot to use her Electromastery to secure her footing and almost went tumbling as the floor of the plane tilted unexpectedly under her.
"Kamijou! Above you!" President Katze shouted suddenly as the plane leveled out, snapping Mikoto out of her shocked fugue and glancing up at the upper flight deck, spotted a man in a flight suit and a helmet leveling a futuristic looking gun that she recognized as a FN P90 submachine gun at Kamijou.
"I've got it!" Mikoto shouted as she quickly used her Esper powers to create electromagnetic fields that proceeded to deflect the burst of bullets that the man in the flight suit shot at Kamijou away from her crush.
"Don't kill the pilot! He's probably mind controlled! And we need him to land the plane!" President Katze warned.
"He's the pilot?" Mikoto asked in surprise as she shocked the flight-suited gunman with a carefully controlled static bolt that sent the man into unconsciousness.
"Yes." The president replied. "At least according to the patches on his flight suit."
"Aw~! You took out my pawn again." An unfamiliar, booming voice with a slight resemblance to Irivika's said, causing both Mikoto and the president to turn towards it and see that it was indeed the young Russian Magician.
A Magician that seemed to have donned a suit of battle armor made of plant matter that had the appearance of a tall, lanky humanoid with long arms that ended in sharp claws and a head crowned by a stag's skull including an impressive set of antlers, whilst shooting supersonic wooden shards from a raised arm towards Kamijou in a bid to keep him back. An effort that was sadly, for her, ineffective as continuing to display his superhuman agility, Kamijou evaded Irivika's attacks and kept closing with the enemy.
"Oi oi, what the heck is that thing?!" Mikoto snapped as she avoided a swipe from the feral looking creature's gnarled clawed hand that stretched a comical distance to reach her. She threw a bolt of electricity at it as it reeled its distended arm back in, but with a flick of its other wrist, it sent out a bolt of raw power that somehow effortlessly nullified Mikoto's own attack.
"Some magical creature obviously!" Kamijou called out as he rushed in and reached out with his right hand.
He ducked under a swipe of one of Irivika's claws with phenomenal deftness as she tried to force him back and slapped her armor's bony face with his supernatural negating right hand.
As expected the sound of shattering glass characteristic of the Imagine Breaker negating a supernatural effect filled the air but the Magician's strange battle armor didn't fall apart. Instead, only a small section of plant matter around the area where Kamijou had touched it with his right hand began to wither and fall away from the rest of the armor, only for fresh growth to replace the destroyed portions as soon as they fell away from the main mass of the armor. A turn of events that surprised both her and Kamijou.
"Eh?" The boy's face pinched as an uneasy smile crossed his face. "What? Is everyone developing a counter to me or-"
Before he could even complete his complaint, he was backhanded and sent tumbling through the plane.
Rushing forward, Mikoto used her Electromastery to perform some gymnastics that would have made even Olympic gymnasts jealous and maneuvered through the forest of cargo inside the plane to catch Kamijou. As she did, President Katze peeked out of his cover and fired off several shots from his pistol into the creature that the Magician had become. Something that nearly resulted in him losing his head and forcing him to duck back into cover to avoid the bullet-like wooden shards that Irivika shot his way from an open palm she pointed his way.
"Biri-Biri! Destroy the cargo!" Kamijou demanded suddenly.
"What?!"
"Just do it!"
Glowering at being ordered around, Mikoto nevertheless began gathering electricity to carry out what Kamijou suggested. But not because the [Imagine Breaker] told her to but because she could see where he was coming from. They couldn't risk the Trigger being among the cargo on the plane and falling into Irivika's hands. Thus with them proving unable to beat her, their next best option was to simply destroy the devices.
Thus with a crack and boom, she unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning at the nearest bit of cargo, blowing it to bits. Sadly, she had overdid it as it had taken a good chunk of the plane along with it and left a gaping hole for them to be blown out of.
They should have made their plane more durable! Mikoto complained.
"If you are willing to crash the plane then I will be happy to help you!" Irivika shouted ominously over the howling winds ripping through the plane's cargo hold due to the depressurization caused by the hole that Mikoto had just blasted into its side and raising one arm towards the unconscious pilot, she fired a salvo of her wooden bullets that ripped through the man before anyone could do anything to stop her.
"Shit! Keep her off me!" President Katze cursed as he broke his cover and despite the turbulence and the deadly whirlwind of debris created by the various loose items swirling through the air that had been created by the winds that now blew through the cargo bay due to the depressurization, he ran towards the stairs to the upper deck in a desperate bid to tend to the pilot. A man who fortunately had not been blown away by the winds by virtue of being dragged by them till he rested against the railing of the ramp that connected the upper deck to the bay.
"Leave it to me!" Mikoto shouted back as carefully pushing Kamijou off her and making sure he grabbed hold of something to prevent him being blow away by the raging windstorm that now filled the cargo bay, something that she did whilst carefully avoiding touching his right hand and shutting down her powers, she sent a powerful but carefully controlled lightning bolt at Irivika.
"You do know that they say that 'the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results', don't you, [Railgun]?" The Magician taunted as she raised an arm in the direction of Mikoto's lightning and released a burst of power that, like last time, nullified the electric attack. "I could stay and teach you a lesson but I think letting you and your allies meet your fates as the plane crashes will do that well enough already. That should be more than sufficient to trim you and your allies down. Rest in peace, Esper!"
With that statement, Irivika raised her other arm, fired off another burst of power that blasted another hole in the C-5 and burst into a run, her strange battle armor withering and falling off her body as she did, before promptly jumping through the newly created tear in the plane's side.
"Did she-"
"No, she had a parachute strapped on." Mikoto told Kamijou with a shout that cut him off despite the howling winds and a muffled but still thunderous boom echoed from the distance. "I spotted it as she jumped out of the plane."
"Right." Kamijou nodded as he too shouted his reply. "What was that boom by the way?"
"No idea. We can figure that out later. We have more than enough things to worry about on our plate already." Mikoto pointed out.
"Got it." Kamijou said with another nod. "So we just need to worry about ourselves for now?""
"And the pilot." Mikoto corrected. "Let's go see if he can be saved and what we can do about stopping this plane from crashing."
Kamijou paled at the reminder that they were now on a heavily damaged plane with a downed pilot and which was thus on the verge of crashing. He thus just nodded nervously and followed after Mikoto as she hurried as quickly as she could through the dangerous place that the cargo bay had become to join President Katze as he tended to the badly wounded pilot.
Sipping on one of the cups of bubble tea that Frenda-chan had bought for the whole team, Ruiko leaned back in the comfortable sofa of the living room of the suite that Kazari and Kuroko-san shared, which had been converted into the operations room for their little mission and enjoyed a break from researching the FCE and the Blueshake Media Network. When Frenda-chan had returned from her drinks run, her two Judgment friends had forced her to take the aforementioned break under the guise of having her brief their gopher for the day on the progress of their efforts.
And yet the two of them are still grinding away, the little hypocrites. Ruiko thought without any heat. If anything she was thankful for how considerate her friends' were being. After all, they're letting me spend time hanging out with Frenda-chan when I should be helping them.
"So Ruiko-sama, how are the other teams doing?" Frenda-chan asked as she sat across from Ruiko.
Ruiko shrugged. "No idea."
The Norwegian blinked at her in surprise at this admission.
Blushing at the look, Ruiko explained. "This isn't Academy City, if I went around hacking into every local surveillance system that I can to maintain the kind of network I do back home, I'd invariably get caught and that could lead to an international incident. I am one of the City's Level 5s and am operating on an officially sanctioned, albeit covert, mission after all."
"Yeah, but I'm sure you, of all people, would find a workaround to that."
"I probably could." Ruiko conceded. "Maybe hack into some of the City's surveillance satellites and task them to track the members of our team, but frankly that's too much trouble. Besides, I find the fact that I'm not maintaining an omnipresent watch over anything and everything around me and my allies refreshing."
"Refreshing enough to cut it out when we get back to the City?" Kuroko-san piped up from where she was scrolling through some document or other on her computer.
"It's not that refreshing." Ruiko shot back. "Besides, every one of those on our team this time are seasoned operatives and can take care of themselves. The situation back home is entirely different."
Kuroko-san scrunched her face up in distaste at being lumped in with the Dark Siders that made up the majority of the team but clearly knowing she had no leg to stand on made no move to retort. Or maybe it was just because Kazari cut her off.
"She's got a point, Kuroko-san." The [Goalkeeper] scolded her partner without looking away from the multiple monitors of the terminal she was using to conduct her share of the research.
Giggling at the exchange, Frenda-chan changed the subject. "Okay, so if you don't know what the other teams are up to then can you at least tell me what you girls have found?"
Taking another sip of her milk tea, Ruiko explained the findings of her and her two friends' research. "Well, we've found out quite a bit about the background of Olay Blueshake, the woman behind Blueshake Media Network and the FCE. She's not just a media mogul but has significant influence in both the automotive, rail and oil industries as well, making her a true economic powerhouse. But it is her control of all the major internet search engines, internet providers, as well the social networking businesses, thus giving her almost complete control of America's information networks that allowed her to develop the FCE."
"Okay," Frenda-chan nodded. "And is there any reason why someone like her would align herself with Gremlin?"
"I was getting there." Ruiko replied whilst teasingly wagging a chiding finger in the blonde's direction.
"Right. Sorry." Frenda-chan said with an adorable blush.
Smirking at the other girl's reaction, Ruiko nodded in exaggerated acceptance of the apology before continuing. "Well, as it turns out there might be. You see, before being rolled out, a thorough investigation was conducted on the FCE and its various backers. And during the course of said investigation it was discovered that Blueshake was apparently abusive to her husband and most likely to her daughter, Lindy, as well. She initially responded to this by divorcing her husband and by using her power and influence, which included substantial sway over a good number of high ranking American political leaders, manipulated the truth so that the blame fell on her husband. This temporarily allowed her to retain custody of Lindy, up until a followup investigation revealed that she may be a possible danger to the girl. As a result, her daughter was taken away into protective custody, a decision that was backed by President Katze himself."
"I take it this isn't public knowledge?"
"Of course not," Ruiko said with a shake of her head. "Do you think she would let the stain of the label of child abuser tarnish her reputation? She used her influence to keep it a secret."
Frenda-chan nodded. "And you think this is why she's teamed up with Gremlin? I mean, I can see it making her an enemy of President Katze but joining up with a magical cabal that seems hellbent on destroying world peace is a little excessive, no?"
"You never know with some people." Ruiko shrugged. "Besides, there are likely other reasons we have yet to uncover. We've barely started digging into her and, likely thanks to all that influence she has, she has covered her tracks well."
"I see. Then did you girls find out anything else? Like who provided Gremlin with a mercenary army? One that is capable of not only fielding those gunmen we saw at Coral Street but also those THeMIS IIIs at New Honolulu International. I mean, figuring out who they were and who hired them could be a huge lead."
"That is sadly also a work in progress." Ruiko admitted, looking chagrined. "Those gunmen could've belonged to any mercenary group and since we have none of them in our custody-"
"Damned guys were too professional to leave a man behind, even their casualties." Frenda-chan griped.
The mercenaries were frustratingly professional in doing that. If they had managed to take even one of them prisoner, she could've ripped any secrets he held from their mind with some emulated Mental Out.
If only I hadn't been so distracted by Accel getting injured…
Hindsight was 20/20. In the here and now, Ruiko could just sigh in agreement with Frenda-chan's assessment of things.
"Unfortunately. But since they were, we can only resort to trying to get the information we need from another angle."
"The THeMIS IIIs?" Frenda-chan asked with a frown. One that only grew as Ruiko nodded. "But that's going to be next to impossible! The Americans sold those things to everyone!"
"I know but we have to start from somewhe-" Ruiko started before she abruptly cut herself off when her suite of emulated sensory abilities that she maintained at all times to enhance her senses and act as a passive danger sense shouted a warning into her mind. There was something flying towards them along Waikiki beach under optical camouflage. Something fairly large and judging by what she was sensing, quite well armed.
Reacting quickly to the rapidly closing threat, Ruiko threw up a multi-layered shield around her and her friends. Something that she managed just in time to protect them as the room exploded around them.
Clearing the ash cloud and debris created by the explosion with a burst of wind courtesy of an application of some emulated Aero Hand, Ruiko turned to the source of the missile that had just blown apart their room. She was just in time to see the perpetrator drop its optical camouflage to reveal itself as a large twin rotor helicopter with a chassis more akin to a conventional plane than a standard helicopter with two large fixed wings to either side of a raptor-like main body. Underslung below the twin mounts for its rotors were sets of four barreled autocannons housed in ball turrets whilst at either end of its wings were large missile pods and beneath its main body was a turreted eight tube missile battery, split between two four tube launchers, of a larger variety than the ones on its wings. And in addition to that, there were even more missile pods. Honestly, the damned thing had way too many missiles.
A Russian Mil AH12? And one equipped with optical camouflage no less? Ruiko thought as she cocked an eyebrow at the gunship which was firing relentless but futile volleys from its autocannons at her barrier. My, my, to send something this well armed against us, our enemies certainly see us as a threat don't they?
Even as machine gun fire continued to bounce harmlessly off her shield, Ruiko took one last sip of her cup of bubble tea before setting it down and standing. As she did, she adopted a haughty pose in the process that had her arms crossed over her chest even as the winds kicked up by the AH12's rotors whipped her hair and the skirt of her dress about her.
Was she being overdramatic? Yes, she most definitely was. Why? Well, a girl's gotta let her inner ham out to play once in a while. And what better time than right now? It's not like the remotely controlled AH12 attacking them right now was much of a threat. Besides, mission or not, she was in Hawaii and she was determined to milk this trip for what it was worth as much as possible!
"Kuroko-san, get Kazari and Frenda-chan out of here." She urged her Teleporter friend even as she gathered together a trio of plasma spheres with a little emulation of the Number 6's ability. "I'll handle this."
Whilst Ruiko was confident she could take out the attack helicopter and keep her friends safe at the same time, it did not change the fact that they would be distractions in the fight. Yes, they might be able to help a little but not much. Not against as capable a weapons platform as the Mil AH12. They simply did not have the experience or firepower necessary.
To Ruiko's surprise, it wasn't the Teleporter who replied to her orders but Kazari. "Give us a sec! Let us save the data we've gathered first!"
Without looking away at the enemy gunship which had began adding small salvos of rockets to the fire from its autocannons in its bid to bring down her shield, Ruiko used some Clairvoyance and spied her Level 1 best friend hastily unplugging her laptop from the computer terminal she had been using.
"Ok! I've got it! Kuroko-san, get us out of here!"
"Right! Then let's go!" Kuroko-san said in reply as she grabbed hold of Kazari and Frenda-chan.
"Kick its mechanical ass, Ruiko-sama!" Frenda-chan managed to shout encouragingly just as the tawny haired Judgment agent's ability kicked in and transported them away towards safety at the safehouse that Birdway had prepared for them should their hotel rooms be compromised.
She wasn't naive enough to think that this lone combat helicopter would be all Gremlin was sending against them but she trusted her friends to handle themselves against any other foes as they made their way to safety. For now, she needed to focus on taking this giant killer metal bird down.
A task that thanks to her prospective girlfriend's joke, she began carrying out whilst in high spirits. Giggling, [Multi-Skill] let the caged energy she had gathered in the plasma spheres floating around her loose in the form of three Particle-Function Waveform High Speed Cannons. The attack failed to hit its target however, as acting with the exceptional maneuverability that the platform was known for, despite the point blank range and the immense speed of the beams, the enemy AH12 still pulled off an impressive evasion.
As I expected of such a deadly weapons system. Ruiko thought even as she teleported below the combat helicopter. But let's see how it stands up to real power.
With that thought and with a flurry of computations, she activated her Angel Mode. Thus, in a burst of iridescent light, two wings covered in rainbow colored feathers materialized from her back and a similarly nacreous halo appeared over her head.
As soon as her wings finished materializing, she beat them hard and in the process sent twin beams of spiraling iridescent energy shooting up at the AH12. However, just like with her opening Particle-Function Waveform High Speed Cannons, the gunship nimbly evaded her attack. It even managed to return fire with a salvo of rockets as it did so. But it didn't just use any rockets…
Those rockets don't have guidance systems! Ruiko realized in alarm, particularly as she noted that whilst the salvo was aimed in her general direction, many of the rockets would miss her altogether and were instead headed towards Waikiki beach above which she was hovering.
A beach that was filled with civilians! Civilians which included a disturbing number that were too busy taking photos or recordings of her fight with the AH12 to do the smart thing and flee for cover like the majority of their peers. A fact that had her worrying that someone would get a shot up her skirt.
I should have worn shorts or pants today. The [AIM Sovereign] thought even as she fired off a brace of pencil thin multicolored lasers from her feathers that intercepted every one of the rockets the enemy had fired, safely detonating them before they could get within range of harming anyone. Then again, doing so would've required me to actually go buy some…
Ruiko was a decidedly dress or skirt kinda girl. Outside of gym shorts and track pants she used when exercising, she didn't own any shorts or pants.
Nah! It's not worth it! She concluded. If any of the civilians below had a phone that could zoom in enough to upskirt her as high up in the sky as she was then they deserved the photo. Especially if they managed it in spite of her shooting after the AH12 as it tried to retreat into the Honolulu skyline with the intent to use its skyscrapers as cover whilst it rained down missile fire at her from afar. Not that it wouldn't stop her from coding up a bot to trawl the net to make sure none of such photos existed and delete any that it found.
I am a mother after all and for the sake of my daughters, I have a reputation to maintain. The AIM Angel thought as she kept firing lasers from her feathers to intercept the AH12's missiles even as she used more of the same lasers to herd it out towards the beach whilst she chased it through the skies above Honolulu. Lasers that she was careful to make sure did not come anywhere close to harming civilians.
It's hard to use anything that can take it down with it hiding between buildings like this. Ruiko thought with a frown as she continued her aerial game of cat and mouse with the Russian made gunship. Anything that I can think of to take it down will inevitably cause collateral damage or send its wreckage raining down on the streets below.
It wasn't only her that was growing frustrated with this stalemate it seemed, as when the AH12 next popped out of its cover it fired off all eight tubes of its main battery at Ruiko. This sent eight Vympel R-37 hypersonic air-to-air missiles shooting towards the Level 5.
Considering these are designed to take out fighter jets, don't you think using this against me is overkill? Ruiko thought with a wry grin only to raise an open hand towards the incoming missiles. A move that served as an unnecessary but satisfyingly dramatic accompaniment to her using some emulated Telekinesis to freeze the missiles in place.
Then again, I am much deadlier than any fighter jet, so I guess not. She continued as she scrambled the targeting systems of the R-37s with some Electromastery and used the Telekinesis holding them to turn them around so they faced back towards the gunship that had launched them.
With one last smirk for the operators remotely controlling the drone gunship, Ruiko pushed her raised hand forward in an exaggerated motion whilst releasing her telekinetic hold on the missiles. At once, the freed missiles, whose engines had been burning at full throttle in a bid to escape her telekinetic grasp all this time, rocketed forward as they streaked towards the new target that she had inputted into their targeting systems.
If they hit the AH12, wreckage would run down on the Honolulu streets below. But at this point Ruiko had resigned herself to the fact that such an outcome would be inevitable. Despite her best efforts to herd the gunship out to sea where she could dispose of it without risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage, it stubbornly refused to cooperate and continued to keep within the limits of the city. She'd even try to hack into its control systems through her Electromastery, only to find it resistant to her efforts.
I will just have to shield the city and, more importantly, the civilians from harm from the fallout. Ruiko reasoned as she surrounded the AH12 and the rapidly closing R-37s in a bubble-shaped barrier.
The aforementioned drone gunship saw its demise coming and desperately fired its autocannons and a salvo of its rockets at the R-37s. This managed to intercept two of the air-to-air missiles, causing them to prematurely explode. However, this still meant six of the powerful missiles slipped past the AH12's desperate point-defense fire and hit home. It was thus soon consumed in a large fireball. A blast that was rapidly followed by a series of secondary explosions as the missile boat's multitude of munitions detonated as a result of its destruction.
Having something like that happen inside a city would have been devastating, much less in as crowded and built up an area as Waikiki beach. The sheer amount of collateral damage and casualties that would result would likely be staggering. However, thanks to Ruiko's shield, Waikiki was spared all that and was instead treated to nothing more than a rather boring but impressively bright and loud fireworks display.
Well, that's done with. Ruiko thought with a demure but satisfied grin as she gently floated down towards the ground where upon seeing her descent, the crowd below - An annoying number of which were filming her - was rapidly clearing a space for her to land.
Ignoring them however, Ruiko used some Electromastery to connect to her phone in her pocket and remotely called Frenda-chan.
"Good afternoon, Frenda-chan." She said by using Electromastery to convey what she wanted to say over the line as the call connected. "Is everything okay on your end of things?"
"Good afternoon, Ruiko-sama. Everything's fine." The Norwegian replied with a giggle, amused with how nonchalant Ruiko was being. "We made it to the safehouse just fine. I would ask how you're doing but we saw that lightshow you put on at the end there. It was kinda hard to miss."
Giggling and causing more than one of the awestruck onlookers that surrounded her in a loose circle as she landed to look at her curiously, Ruiko replied. "I tried. Sadly, considering what I had to work with, I couldn't make it as pretty as I'd have liked."
"It was still plenty pretty. I'd give it a 7/10."
"You're too-"
Ruiko's flirtatious call with Frenda-chan was interrupted when there was a sudden earthquake and a thunderous boom from off in the direction of Hawai'i Island.
"What was that!?" Frenda-chan asked nervously. "Don't tell me…"
Turning her sensor suite in the direction of Kīlauea, Ruiko could not help but frown as the data they provided confirmed what she and Frenda-chan feared.
"Naru-chan's team failed." Ruiko informed the Level 0. "That was Kīlauea erupting."
Some time earlier, ITEM, Kuroyoru-san and Naru herself had arrived at the base of Kīlauea, the most active of the five volcanoes in Hawaii and one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, in Volcanoes National Park.
"What are we even looking at here?" Kuroyoru-san snidely asked as they looked over what they had discovered, namely devices which looked like drums with four legs, spread out like a cross. Dozens of which were securely affixed to the ground in no doubt strategic locations all around the volcano. Devices that matched the description of the Triggers that President Katze had provided them.
"Those must be the Triggers." Mugino-san hummed and flipped her hair over her shoulder as she climbed over the railing that bordered the footpath so that they could get closer to the volcano than the U.S. National Park Service normally allowed visitors.
"And of course, they're protected." Naru huffed with a budding sense of annoyance as she glared at the horde of quadruped assault robots that looked like some kind of stripped down mechanical imitation of a gorilla or dog which were armed with machine guns and were dutifully guarding the Triggers.
"Oooh, those are Rangers. They're the U.S.'s last gen autonomous combat drones." Kuroyoru-san whistled as she sauntered towards the robotic hordes with a casual air that did not befit the fact they were undeniably about to engage in what was potentially deadly combat. "There's so many of them though. Did they get them at a clearance sale or what?"
Kinuhata-san shot her fellow Dark May survivor a look, prompting the dolphin loving cyborg to shrug. "What? My partner in Freshman is Silvercross Alpha. You don't have a Powered Suit obsessed man as a partner and not pick up a thing or two about mecha, alright?"
"I am personally curious why they haven't attacked us yet." Hamazura-san said with a frown as they looked out at the enemy forces arrayed around the foot of Kīlauea but completely ignored them despite them standing only a few feet away.
"I believe those robots must be programmed to only engage anyone who attacks them or the Triggers they are defending." Takitsubo-san reasoned. "That way they would avoid starting a fight should someone just randomly stray into the area."
Naru nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. With the park closed, probably thanks to whoever's in charge being mind controlled by that plant using Magician, that would limit the number of people who might do that but it's safe to minimize the chances of a fight even further."
"Yeah? Then what about trespassers? You know, like us?" Kinuhata-san asked with a frown.
"The Park Rangers are probably under that Magician named Irivika's control and will intercept them I guess, Onee-san." Kuroyoru-san said, shooting her fellow Dark May survivor a cheeky smile. "They can probably spin it as the robots being part of a secret training exercise. I mean they are all American equipment so it's not really that unbelievable. And if that doesn't work, they can just kill them."
"Don't call me that! I'm not your sister!" Kinuhata-san replied reflexively even as she nodded. "But yeah. That super makes sense."
"Cut the chit chat girls." Mugino-san said, annoyance in her eyes as they at last got within a dozen feet of the nearest group of Rangers and the robots began turning to face them.
"Halt! This is a restricted area! Leave at once! Failure to do so will lead to the use of deadly force to remove you!" A prerecorded voice boomed from the drones.
Ignoring them, Mugino continued barking orders. "Oi! [ManiForce]! Focus on counteracting the eruption, my team and the intern will deal with the small fry and try to get rid of as many Triggers as possible!"
This was met with a series of affirmatives by all of them, even Naru. Yes, she rankled a little at taking orders from Mugino but considering the situation she could live with it. She, like Kuroyoru-san, were just tagalongs with the Number 6's team after all. So, pulling up a protective wall of earth to shield herself against enemy fire, she began to send tendrils of chakra into the volcano and began trying to make sense of what the Triggers were doing.
As her chakra reached the heart of the volcano, Naru could tell that despite the lack of outward signs of it, Kīlauea was indeed about to erupt! Heck! The eruption was being massaged along by a host of controlled explosions that sent powerful vibrations underground from multiple angles at once. Explosions that were steadily inciting the volcano towards violently blowing its top.
That must be the work of the Triggers. Naru realized with a frown as she tried to use her chakra shaped into what Kurama would call Yōton (Lava Release) to try and quell the building pressure within the volcano created by the shockwaves released by the Triggers. She was hardly familiar with using her chakra this way though, at least nowhere near enough to calm a volcano on the verge of exploding. She thus reached out to the resident expert. Kurama! Help!
I'm already trying my best! Kurama sent back. It's just not helping. Yōton is more Gokū's wheelhouse.
Well, try harder! Naru demanded desperately.
Even as Naru and her partner were desperately trying to prevent Kīlauea from erupting, her temporary teammates began engaging the Rangers defending the Triggers. Most of them did so in familiar ways. Mugino was going crazy on both the robots and the devices they were defending with her Particle-Function Waveform High Speed Cannons whilst using screens of plasma to protect herself from return fire. Kinuhata-san was using her brawler fighting style to rip and tear any of the robots and the devices that she could get her hands on whilst ignoring the bullets the Rangers shot her way thanks to her Offense Armor. Kuroyoru-san was using dozens of her tentacle-like cybernetic arms in combination with her Bomber Lance to do her part in the electronic massacre whilst she used her arms to move around like some kind of demented spider to avoid the hail of lead the Rangers sent their way. Lastly, Hamazura-san was proving how canny a fighter he was by moving from cover to cover whilst firing off Handheld Anti-Tank Missile Warheads that he pulled from the backpack he was wearing at spots on the side of the volcano above the thickest clumps of the enemy to cause landslides that crushed dozens of the Rangers and Triggers at a time. There was a big surprise among the lot though, namely how Takitsubo pulled out a pair of Uzi machine pistols that they had got as loot from fighting Irivika in Coral Street Shopping Mall and copying her boyfriend's tactical movement, began firing away at the Rangers and Triggers. And she did so with a surprising level of familiarity and proficiency!
Spotting the curious look that Naru was shooting his girlfriend, Hamazura-san cracked a weary grin and answered her unasked question. "Yeah, ever since she got healed by Elizalina during World War Three, I've been teaching Rikou how to handle guns. She didn't want to ever be helpless again."
"And why is she only showing off her skill with guns now?"
Hamazura-san shrugged. "She wasn't exactly confident in her skills but after Coral Street, the feeling that she was useless hit her all over again so she decided to give it a go regardless."
Naru just nodded, there wasn't much to say since the girl was finally acting like a proper Dark Sider instead of just an Esper compass. The City might train them to be one trick ponies in the name of cost efficiency but any Dark Sider worth their salt inevitably got their own training to round out their skills.
"Shiage, I like these better than the pistols you gave me!" The [AIM Stalker] said as she kept spraying bullets with her machine pistols, her arms - which Naru had always thought were noodle arms - remaining steady and her shots on target.
"Then we'll get you a pair of 'em that are up to the City's spec when we get home!"
Naru! Focus! We're losing control of the volcano! Kurama shouted into Naru's mind urgently, causing her to hastily pull her attention away from her allies' efforts to carry out a robotic genocide around her and back towards to Kīlauea.
Shit! Naru cursed as she realized that in her distraction that the Triggers had started upping the ante and were now unleashing powerful synchronized explosions that were roiling up the molten earth in the volcano's magma chamber like crazy. Acting immediately, she poured everything she could into trying to counteract the devices and calm the volcano. Except, despite her and Kurama's efforts… It's not working!
Keep trying! Kurama urged.
Even as she continued her efforts, Naru also shouted at her allies. "Take out those Triggers! There are just too many of them! I can't beat them!"
"Can't you see we're trying!" Mugino snapped back. "There are hundreds of them! We're taking them out as fast as we can but it isn't something we can just do!"
Naru growled. She knew [Meltdowner] was right. But…
We're losing control! Kurama observed as the pressure inside the volcano's magma chamber began to build towards a cascading failure.
I know! Naru thought with helpless frustration. "I can't stop it! It's going to blow!"
As she shouted the warning, the ground shook violently and Mount Kīlauea erupted with a booming explosion. An eruption that sent a massive cloud of ash and plumes of lava shooting into the sky, and rivers of lava and pyroclastic flows surging down its side.
"Dammit! We're getting out of here!" Naru shouted, feeling defeated as she teleported next to Hamazura-san and Takitsubo-san, the squishiest of her allies, who had ended up taking cover in their fight against the Rangers behind the same rocky outcropping and teleporting them away to safety. The first of her allies that she would teleport out of the path of Kīlauea's eruption and the fiery death that it threatened them with.
"I have to say that I'm glad I decided to learn the basics!" President Katze boasted from the pilot seat of the crashing C-5 that they were in.
Strapped into the co-pilot seat, Touma could only nod warily as the American President attempted to land the plane.
"So how did you learn?" He couldn't help but ask, trying to take the edge off his fears that they could possibly die from this.
"Flight Simulator!"
Touma felt his heart seize at that.
"Ha! Man, the look on your face!" The President chuckled and Touma relaxed. "I just took some lessons, my boy. How's the lass doing?"
Whilst the two of them were in the cockpit, Biri-Biri was back in the cargo bay treating the pilot. From what he could lean over and gleam? She was doing the best she could.
It really made him want to get that first-aid certification. Or maybe if he was feeling ambitious, he should get a pilot's license instead? The skills either of that would give him would allow him to do more than sitting here and be helpless when so much as a wrong move could send the plane into the ground like he was now.
"And we're coming down." President Katze said as he pushed the throttle and flipped some switches.
Touma gripped the seat he was in tightly.
He had faced Magicians, Espers and other crazy things. Yet he got worried about a plane? What was his life?
Fukou da!
In a matter of minutes, the plane landed a bit roughly in the ocean off one of the Hawaiian islands.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Touma unbuckled himself and headed hastily out of the cockpit towards the plane's cargo bay, where he found Biri-Biri pulling some emergency supplies, including an inflatable liferaft used exactly for the emergency water landing that they had just made, out of a locker next to where she had laid out the injured pilot. "How's he doing?"
"He's not going to last long if we can't get him to a hospital." The Level 5 somberly said without looking away from what she was doing. "Help me with this, would you? We need to get out of this plane before it sinks."
Touma paled. The plane could sink!? He hadn't even thought of that!
As he panicked and rushed forward to help Biri-Biri, the radio back in the cockpit crackled loudly before an incoming transmission in English burst out from its speakers. Barely able to string together a proper sentence in the language, Touma could not understand what was being said. Thankfully, they had a native speaker with them and President Katze replied to the transmission in a positive tone before calling out to Touma and the Level 5.
"Good news kiddos! Not only did I manage to land us on a half submerged atoll so we won't immediately sink even though we have a couple of holes in our sides but we've also got some of my people coming in to give us a lift." He told them with a thumbs up as he stepped out of the cockpit to address them.
"Yeah. That's good news but…" Biri-Biri said, trailing off uncharacteristically whilst simultaneously freezing in her attempts to prepare the emergency supplies she had unpacked for use just as she turned to look out a window.
"But what, Misaka-san?" Touma asked with a frown.
The Level 5 just pointed out at the windows she was looking through.
Looking at where she was pointing, both Touma and President Katze both paled. In the distance, with a massive cloud of ash and geysers of lava shooting out into the air, they could see Mount Kīlauea erupting. A sight that meant…
"We've failed."
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
And there goes the volcano. Really, dealing with this Russian hussy is a total pain. Though we know she's quite frantic running around doing all she can to stay a step ahead. Naru seems to need to practice her lava release more, tsk tsk~ XD But yeah, she held it off as best she could. Still it was nice to have the Prez doing stuff on the side to help out like with the plane.
Nameless: About Mugino's bashing of Touma in the opening scene, please note that as the audience, we know that Touma is just tired from all the Incidents that he's been thrown into but Mugino doesn't and wouldn't care if she did. She's a terrible person like that. She's improving after WW3 but she's still got a long way to go before she's anything resembling a decent person. That's why she's being so uncharitable to Touma there.
Mugino is going to Mugino honestly. It's why she's denser than her new arm and a total bitch. XD
Nameless: Lastly, just want to note that yes, this chapter is quite a bit shorter than the last one despite the battle within it being on a much larger scale. The reason for this is simple. It was, in a sense, split up. After all, we haven't covered what happened to Accelerator and Birdway have we? Why the split? That's because their side of this multi theater battle deserves its own special fair share of attention and thus we gave it its own chapter. That said, even if everything in the two chapters were merged, I still think it would be hard to match the previous chapter… Chapter 99 was just that much of a monster of a chapter. Hopefully, our inability to follow up with another matching monster chapter isn't too much of a problem. XD
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!