Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter One Hundred One: War in Paradise - The Sealing of Pearl Harbor
Accel and the Mesugaki were walking through the cargo plane the two of them had been searching for any sign of the Triggers when he suddenly heard the sound of jet engines powering up. Pausing in their search, they exchanged a look.
"That's not our plane." Accel pointed out with a frown.
The Magician nodded as she turned to exit the plane. "But why would the other plane take off?"
"Good question." The Number 1 replied with his own nod as he turned to follow the girl, gesturing as he did at the group of American soldiers with that Bax Silver guy who had escorted them here but were now forming up into firing positions at the foot of the loading ramp of the cargo plane. "Think they'll have an idea?"
"Why don't we ask?" The Mesugaki shot back with a smirk.
"Halt!" The American commander shouted at them in English as they came close. "Put your hands up and surrender!"
At his barked command towards Accel and the Mesugaki, his men leveled their rifles at them.
"You are responsible for kidnapping the President and the attack on Waikiki."
"Oh?" Accel replied back in English as he shot the man a cocked eyebrow. "Since when do you take people in for questioning at gunpoint?"
And I am damned glad I've got a passable mastery of the language.
English was one of the few academic subjects that he actually had to put in effort to master. Unlike scientific subjects, which he tended to master almost effortlessly thanks to his powers giving him a leg up on understanding the associated principles, it was something he had to work to get good at. A novelty that had provided him with the encouragement he needed.
Ignoring the American once more barking a demand for them to surrender, Accel turned to shoot the Mesugaki an unimpressed look. "Is he mind controlled?"
The Magician shrugged. "Looks like it. And before you dare blame me for missing this, I would like to remind you that I made it clear that I could only tell who was under Irivika's control if I could give the potential victim a detailed examination, something I wasn't able to give this man."
Firing a warning shot into the air with a pistol that must be his sidearm, the Silver man repeated his demand. "Stop ignoring me! Surrender now!"
Unfazed by his latest demand, Accel and the Mesugaki continued to ignore him and his men.
"I'm honestly more concerned about the attack on Waikiki that he mentioned." The Mesugaki continued. "Your girlfriend is there. Isn't she?"
Accel just shrugged. "I trust Ruiko. She can keep herself and the girls at the hotel safe."
"Uh, young lady," one of Silver's men suddenly spoke up, his tone clearly hesitant. "You mentioned that the commander might be under someone's control? What do you mean?"
"Johnson! What are you doing!?" Silver shouted at his subordinate that had addressed them.
The man flinched but did not back down and shot the Mesugaki a questioning look. A look that prompted the girl to turn to face the man.
"Yes," she said with a nod. "According to President Katze, a large number of key personnel in the American command structure has been mind controlled by a Magician from the Gremlin magic cabal."
"Johnson! Don't you dare listen to her! For all we know, she's just trying to sow discord."
Once more ignoring his commander, the man named Johnson frowned and muttered to himself. "Mind control would explain a number of questionable decisions the commander has made."
"Johnson! Stand down!" Silver ordered as he rounded on the man.
This confrontation between their commander and one of their own seemed to confuse the rest of the American soldiers and they looked at each other nervously, clearly uncertain what they should do. Uncertainty that led to them just freezing and doing nothing.
"Mesugaki, any idea what's going on?" Accel asked as he watched things play out with a raised eyebrow.
"Your guess is as good as mine." The blonde said with a shake of her head.
"Commander, let me do this." Johnson said as he let go of his rifle, letting it fall slack on its sling and rest against his chest, whilst pulling a hammer from a pocket of his combat fatigues. "If I'm wrong, this should do nothing. But if you've really been compromised, this will release you from whatever spell you're under."
"Johnson! Don't you dare! Stand down!"
Ignoring his commander, Johnson tapped his hammer in the direction of Silver, causing scripts engraved all along the hammer to glow. The glowing script replicated itself into dense strands of text that proceeded to fly off the hammer and wrap around the commander. As they did, the scripts' glow quickly became blindingly bright for a second before fading away into nothingness and causing the commander to stumble.
"Shit! Damn!" The man cursed as he steadied himself.
"You alright, commander?" Johnson, the American Magician, asked his commander.
"No, I'm not alright." Silver said, putting his hands to his temples and shaking his head. "I was mind controlled by the enemy damnit!"
"Yes, it appears you were." The Mesugaki cut in. "But more importantly, are you free now? Was the cleansing invocation of the Ninety-five Theses effective?"
"It was." Silver said with a nod as he finally seemed to regain his composure and turned to the American Magician. "Johnson, is anyone responding to the attack in Waikiki?"
Putting away his hammer, the man nodded towards a nearby hangar where a group of what looked like pilots judging by their flight suits were arguing with their apparent superior over something.
"Not yet." Johnson answered. "As you can see, some of us have been trying to scramble some kind of response to the attack but we're being hamstrung by what I can assume are compromised commanders."
"Think that guy is under Irivika's mind control?" Accel asked the Mesugaki, nodding towards the pilots' superior.
"Looks like it." The Mesugaki said with an exasperated sigh. "But like I've repeatedly said, unless I do a detailed examination, I can't be sure. I'm hardly familiar enough with the Russian's magic to recognize someone under its influence by observation alone."
Even as Accel talked to the Mesugaki, Silver turned to the Magician under his command and began issuing orders. "Johnson, go free that man so our pilots can get into the air already."
"Sir, yes, sir!" Johnson said as he began to draw his hammer in preparation to do so.
However, before he could do more than that, there was a thunderous boom from the southeast that prompted everyone to turn towards its source. As they did, they were greeted by the sight of a massive plume of ash shooting into the sky alongside geysers of lava.
"That's Kīlauea." The Mesugaki said with a deep frown. "Looks like we're too la-"
"We've got more urgent problems." Accel cut her off as he turned to face towards the base's harbor and the sea beyond.
"What do you-" Silver began as he and the Mesugaki and the men there followed his lead in turning to look towards the sea.
They did so just in time to see hundreds of missiles streak towards and crash down into Pearl Harbor. Missiles that seemed to especially target the various ships anchored in the naval base.
"Crap!" Silver cursed with a growl. "The bastards must've used their mind control to compromise our missile defense crews."
"Our men who are in charge of monitoring incoming enemies too." Johnson added.
"Hey!" Accel snapped. "Now's not the time to play the blame game!"
Pointing at a swarm of incoming boats and planes heading for the base, he continued. "Shouldn't you be dealing with the incoming invasion instead?"
Silver frowned and with a nod, turned to the Magician under his command. "Johnson, go use your magic and free those who might be under the enemy's control and compromising our defense. You should know who that might be."
"Yes, sir." Johnson said with a salute before turning to run off towards the mind controlled pilots' superior, with a portion of the group of the soldiers that had been holding Accel and the Mesugaki at gunpoint, who Accel assumed were his squad, following after him.
"And what will you do, Commander Silver?" Accel asked the base commander pointedly.
"Head back to the command center and take control of the situation." The American commander replied. "What about the two of you?"
"We'll assist you in the base's defense." The Mesugaki answered, volunteering her and, more importantly, Accel's assistance without consulting him. A move that caused him to grunt in annoyance at her speaking for him. He didn't contradict her though.
"No, don't." Silver countered. "Focus on getting out of here and try to regroup with the President. It's clear that he is right not to trust American forces if they're so compromised as to facilitate this attack, but he seems to trust you so I will as well. And you need to go help him now."
The Mesugaki frowned, obviously surprised at this turn of events. Accel was too, but he rolled with the punches and nodded. "Leave it to us."
Nodding back, Silver turned to a nearby group of soldiers running towards him, either coming to fetch him or rushing to him to get orders, and addressed them.
"You there! I want you to escort these two civilians safely out of the base at all costs."
Leivinia and Accelerator were rushing through the battlefield that Pearl Harbor had become as attacking gunmen who were flying the gray flag that signified they were mercenaries and Magicians, that Leivinia could only assume were from Gremlin, fought to overwhelm the base's defenders. With the aid of the aforementioned Gremlin Magicians, the powerful anti-ship missiles that they had used to open their attack which had taken out a significant number of the American ships in the base, the element of surprise, their carefully coordinated attacks, and presumably chaos in the American side's chain of command caused by those within that Irivika had suborned with her mind control, the mercenaries were actually making surprising progress. However, the might of the United States was not to be laughed at and now that the shock of the attack was fading, Pearl Harbor's defenders were rallying. Its soldiers and Magicians were overcoming their confusion and putting up increasingly stiff resistance. By her estimation, the enemy attack would be fought off soon enough.
But the enemy should've expected that. Surely they would understand the military might that Pearl Harbor represents and how a mercenary army, no matter how powerful, cannot hope to overcome it. Leivinia realized as they got closer to the edge of the base's perimeter. So what is their real plan here?
Just as the question flashed across her mind, the answer presented itself as she caught sight of a group of the mercenaries setting up an obelisk covered in various hieroglyphics that they had just unloaded from a transport truck ahead of them.
As the enemy turned to attack them and they all hunkered down behind Accelerator's insanely powerful and useful Redirection passive defense, Leivinia cursed. "Bloody hell! That obelisk is an Idol to create a large Sealed Space. The enemy is attempting to seal off Pearl Harbor."
Her explanation of the situation caused the Number 1 Esper accompanying her to frown and the leader of the squad of American soldiers escorting them to gasp. "That would seal away the biggest concentration of American soldiers in Hawaii. If they do that, they'll have free rein to invade the islands!"
"Then we'll just have to wreck that obelisk." Accelerator declared as he promptly charged forward.
The mercenaries and the Magicians supporting them responded by shooting a hail of lead, a volley of RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), and a variety of offensive spells at him. However, everything they threw at him was effortlessly deflected by his Redirection. Bullets were sent shooting away from him and his allies. RPGs exploded against the barrier, the destructive force they unleashed directed safely away. The elemental manifestation of spells were turned away. More esoteric attack spells just fizzled out into motes of light as they reached his barrier as the energy that empowered them were disrupted.
"You have to try a lot harder than that to stand a chance against me!" The Esper taunted with a sneer as he shot a hammer of wind at a man in the enemy formation that sent him flying, opening up their lines and allowing him to bull rush into their ranks.
Panicking, the enemy redoubled their fire in a desperate attempt to take Accelerator down. Unfortunately for them, their efforts were just as easily deflected by his Redirection. Even worse for them, with him now within their ranks he was also readily attacking them with various bursts of wind that sent them flying through the air and crashing into the ground with enough carefully controlled force to knock them unconscious but not cause lasting harm.
Such fine control… And such impressive raw power as well. So much so that I've not had to cast a single spell throughout our march through the base. Leivinia thought with a smirk as Accelerator finished dealing with its defenders and turned his attention to the obelisk. The latter of which he promptly reduced to rubble with a deceptively feeble punch to its side that he had clearly enhanced with his power somehow. Truly, I made the right choice in allying myself with him and the rest of the heroes of Academy City.
The leader of the squad of American soldiers that were escorting them, who had been stunned into silence at Accelerator's display, shook his head as he got over his shock and turned to Leivinia. "Is that enough to stop the enemy from sealing Pearl?"
"I'm afraid it's unlikely to be so easy." She replied as she began jogging to join Accelerator, prompting the soldier and his men to follow her. "This attack is too well coordinated. If the plan is to seal Pearl Harbor away from the rest of Hawaii, then they'll use more than one Idol."
"That's what I'd do." Accelerator added, nodding his agreement.
This prompted the leader of the squad of American soldiers to frown. "Then we will need to get the two of them out of the base before the enemy can seal it off. Commander Silver tasked me and my men to get you out of the base safely and come hell or high water, that's what we're going to do."
"Then let's get going." Leivinia urged. "If they're setting up their Idols, we might not have much time left."
Nodding in agreement, the American squad leader gestured for them to follow him as he began leading them to the base's exit.
A short while after smashing the obelisk that the enemy had been trying to use to seal Pearl Harbor away to facilitate their invasion of Hawaii, Accel and the Mesugaki finally made it to the base's gatehouse. Annoyingly, they did so only to find the place under attack, with its defenders on the verge of being overwhelmed despite help from the Mesugaki's blonde right hand man and other members of her magic cabal.
Which wasn't really a surprise when the enemy had brought in four whole tanks alongside a whole battalion's worth of infantry and supporting Magicians. Faced with that, that a few dozen riflemen and Magicians hadn't been instantly overrun was actually something of a surprise to be honest.
Not that a force like that is anything more than a nuisance for me. Accelerator thought with an arrogant smirk as he reached out to the winds with his powers and conjured up a tornado that he promptly sent screaming through the enemy ranks, picking all of them - including the tanks - up in its howling winds and shooting them out from the top of the twister as far away from his allies as he could punt them.
"Mesugaki," he said, turning towards the Magician, even as they and their escorts casually followed after the trail of destruction his twister had left in its wake. "What are your men doing here?"
"I can answer, Accelerator-san." The Mesugaki's right hand man said as he jogged over to join them. "You see, my men and I had infiltrated Blackport Naval Base, one of the sub-bases of Pearl Harbor, to gather information when the attack began. Knowing that Lady Leivinia was in the base and would seek to leave it, we headed to the gate to secure it so she could safely make her escape."
He was just finished explaining themselves when suddenly the American troops and some of the Mesugaki's subordinates tensed and turned towards the road leading towards the base where a limousine was racing down the road towards them.
"Halt!" One of the leaders of the American troops at the gatehouse demanded of the limousine, prompting it to obey and come to a stop.
The moment it did, a door slammed open and a thin, blonde woman with blue eyes rushed out with purpose and flashed some kind of identification badge (ID) at them. "I am Roseline Krackhart, aide to the President of the United States of America, and I order you to tell me what is going on here!"
The soldier who had ordered her car to stop stepped forward and examined the woman's ID for a moment, before, presumably determining that it was for real, he snapped a salute and proceeded to answer the Krackhart woman's question. "Ma'am! As you can see Pearl Harbor is under attack by forces unknown."
"Forces unknown? We have yet to identify the hos-"
Krackhart was mid-rant when the air suddenly started to become charged with magical energy that was similar enough to the Telesma he used that he could sense it but different enough that he didn't recognize it.
"The Sealed Space is about to snap into place around Pearl Harbor!" The Mesugaki shouted in warning. "We need to get out of the base now!"
"Move! Move now!" The American squad leader that had been escorting Accel and the Mesugaki through Pearl Harbor shouted urgently as he and his men began hustling the two of them through the gatehouse.
They weren't the only ones trying to run out of the base too either. Practically the entire group of people at the gatehouse had broken into a run to rush out of the building and down the road leading to it. A desperate run that allowed them to make it out of the base just as with a surge of magical energy, a golden wall of said energy with Egyptian hieroglyphics randomly fading in and out of existence across its surface snapped into place.
"Pearl Harbor has been cut off." Krackhart observed with a frown before turning towards Kīlauea off in the distance. "And with the ash cloud that Kīlauea is throwing up as a result of its eruption cutting off planes from the mainland, and thus reinforcements, Hawaii is all but undefended."
The woman had just finished making this observation when suddenly the ground started to shake.
"Shit! What's happening now!?" One of the American soldiers cried out in alarm.
The man had barely finished speaking when in an explosion of dust, dirt and chunks of earth just behind of Krackhart's limousine a giant spider-like hexapedal mecha with a head with a large cannon mounted on either side of it and a pair of arms attached to the front of its main body containing blades crawled its way out of the hole it had dug to make its debut.
"That's the EXCELSUS!" Krackhart gasped from under the extended reach of his Redirection that he had used to deflect away the debris created by the mecha's explosive entrance from him and his allies. "It should be experimental and still undergoing trials at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)! How did the enemy get their hands on it?"
"Probably had one of their mind controlled pawns hand it over to them." Accel said dismissively as he pushed his way to the front of their group. "The rest of you back off. This mecha is mine."
"You sure you won't need help, Accelerator?" The Mesugaki asked, her tone brimming with amusement.
"No," Accel confirmed as he watched the tank sized spider mecha retract the blades attached to its arms, which it probably used for its tunneling, and was turning to face them. "All of you stay out of it! This thing is mine!"
"Uh, Ma'am, should we listen to him?" One of the American soldiers asked Krackhart as the mecha leveled its twin cannons at the woman and used them to fire off a pair of plasma bolts. Blasts of supercharged gasses that his Redirection easily deflected away from him and his allies.
"Yes," Krackhart said, sounding resigned. "He seems to have things under control. And I would rather not have him turn that impressive power of his against us by annoying him and butting into a fight he's asked us to keep out of. Though if he needs help…"
"He won't." The Mesugaki assured her as the mecha decided to change tack now that its cannons had proved ineffective and proceeded to skitter towards them, deploying its digging blades. "He's not Academy City's Number 1 Esper for no reason."
"Ranged doesn't work so you're switching to melee? Don't think that it'll work, you oversized robot!" Accel taunted his opponent as with a sweeping gesture of his left hand, he sent a brace of vacuum blades at the mecha.
He specifically targeted the machine's spindly arachnoid legs with the aim to cut them off, remove its mobility and send it crashing down to the ground onto its belly. However, to his surprise, the mecha's armor managed to withstand his attack. His vacuum blades cut deep trenches into the armor along its legs but failed to cut them off.
In reply to his attack, a number of hidden ports built into the underside of its head opened up and revealed machine guns that began spraying bullets at him. Bullets that harmlessly deflected off his Redirection barrier. He wasn't the machine's main target however as it stretched its arms forward, thrusting its massive digging blades towards Krackhart instead. Blades that like its bullets slammed into his barrier but unlike those bullets, they weren't just deflected but snapped in the process as they made contact.
"Told you it wouldn't work." Accel said with a sadistic laugh as he shot a massive gust of wind at the mecha.
It staggered back but much to Accel's disappointment, it did not topple onto its back like he'd hoped. But he took advantage of what he was given nonetheless and stamping one of his feet, manipulated the vectors of the kinetic energy created by him doing so to create a sinkhole under the scrambling mecha. Already off-balance due to his previous attack, the mecha was unable to escape the yawning hole in the ground that opened up underneath it and crashed down into it.
As it did however, it managed to line its cannons up at Krackhart's position and fired off a shot. However, just like its previous attempt, the plasma bolts were automatically deflected by his Redirection barrier.
"Did you honestly think that would work?" Accel asked as with another stamp of his feet, he used his vector manipulation to emulate geokinesis to have the hole that he had trapped the mecha in abruptly close. Walls of solid earth surged towards the machine from all sides and despite it desperately trying to skitter its way out of the prison that he had trapped it in, it was swiftly crushed.
And as if on cue, just as the machine died, Krackhart's phone suddenly rang. A call that he could detect, thanks to a spike in her breathing, startled the woman. She was however able to control herself enough to appear unfazed as she pulled out her phone and eyed the display signaling the identity of the caller. Whoever the caller was, it must have been important because it finally caused her to drop her mask of calm as her eyes narrowed and she frowned.
Whoever it is, if it's getting that kind of reaction outta that woman then I should find out. Accel thought as he proceeded to use some Electromastery he emulated using his own vector manipulation to listen in on the call.
"Hello?" The woman said as she answered the call. "Olay Blueshake?"
"Yes, it is me, Olay Blueshake, Roseline Krackhart." The woman on the other side of the call answered. "You still have my number saved on your contact list I see."
"I added it back in when intelligence indicated that you might be involved in President Katze's disappearance." Krackhart said with a shrug. "Don't flatter yourself into thinking I kept your number even after you were revealed to be the domestic abuser that you are, Blueshake."
"Argh! You're as frustrating to deal with as always, Krackhart." Blueshake retorted with a growl.
"Coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment." The blonde woman said with a smirk.
Taunting a villain like that? She's got sass. Accel thought with approval as he watched the Mesugaki make her way towards him. Hopefully she can back it up better than the bratty Magician.
"But enough pleasantries." Krackhart continued. "Is this invasion of Hawaii your doing?"
"Indeed it is." Blushake readily agreed. "And it's only the beginning. Once I've secured Hawaii, I'll use it as my base to liberate the rest of the United States and once I'm done, I'll convert it into a theocracy. One that will be able to properly stand against the occult instead of standing idle like it embarrassingly did during World War 3."
"You're insane. There's no way that your harebrained scheme will succeed."
Accel had to nod in agreement with Krackhart's assessment. It was impossible to believe any one normal woman, no matter how rich or influential, would be able to conquer the United States of America on her own. It was the world's hyperpower for a reason! Even he, the Number 1 Esper, was leery of making an enemy of it and here was this woman with nothing but an army of mercenaries she'd hired with her money and some allied Magicians thinking she could take it over!? There was no other way to describe her than insane!
"You're listening in on her call aren't you, Accelerator?" The Mesugaki asked in a whisper as she reached his side. "Anything to share?"
"Not yet." He told her distractedly. "I'll tell you anything that comes up after the call. Now be quiet and let me hear what they have to say."
The Mesugaki was halfway to pouting but caught herself at the last second and transited into a frown instead. As amusing as that was, what was more important was that she nodded and kept quiet.
Especially as whilst they had been talking, Krackhart and Blueshake had also been continuing their call.
"You call my brilliant plan harebrained, Krackhart?" The madwoman retorted.
"Yes, I do. You know me. I pull no punches when it comes to such things and there is no other way to describe your plan than utter idiocy."
"Is that so?" Blueshake asked confidently. "Then let's see you try and stop me."
With that she broke into a stereotypical villainous laugh and hung up.
"Well?" The Mesugaki spoke up to ask. "Why did the mastermind call? To gloat?"
"Yes," Krackhart confirmed. "But in doing so she's made a major mistake. By revealing herself, she has foolishly provided us with a chance to turn the tide of the current invasion."
"And what's that exactly?" Accel asked, curious despite himself.
Sure, with the firepower he and his team for this mission had at their disposal he was confident they could thwart whatever plan that Gremlin and this Blueshake woman had cooked up, but if there was some easier way to handle things then he was all for it.
That way, Ruiko and I can get some time to enjoy ourselves more.
They were in Hawaii after all and yet he'd only gotten to see Ruiko in a bikini a grand total of once during their trip so far when they'd gone skinny dipping together a couple days ago! If they were in a tropical paradise like this then he wanted to see more of his girlfriend dressed for the occasion damnit! At minimum, he wanted to make out with her on the beach at least once! Maybe go skinny dipping with her again if they could manage to find the time!
Smirking in response to his question, Krackhart answered. "Why? Now that we know our enemy is Blueshake, we'll just have to use her daughter against her."
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
As usual, when Accel goes for a walk, things get wrecked. For real, he even has a loli with him to do it. Just like old times XP Then again, he doesn't really like Birdway so dealing with the brat magician wasn't the best for him, more like a chore.
Nameless: Argh! I knew this chapter would likely be short but this still feels a little too short considering the epic length of Chapter 99 and I can't help but be disappointed as a result. That said, adding anything would just feel like adding bloat I fear. I mean, it's not like Blueshake has any heavy hitters that she can deploy against Accel that would warrant us dragging things out. Gremlin does, but if you are familiar with canon, you'd know why they aren't deploying them. If not, well, it'll be explained. Eventually.
Still, watching big mecha get smashed is a delight so we hope you enjoyed it!
Nameless: On another note, can I just say that in her own way Krackhart is also a terrible person? Sure, not as much as Irivika but they both do not hesitate to use children to get what they want and that should be condemned whenever we see it. So just like we condemned Irivika last time, we've got to condemn Krackhart too.
Ugh, I know. It's like the secretary is smug over her smarts, but it is just frustrating watching her be smug about it. It like this arc had the smug girls come rolling in or just the terrible blondes.
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!