I

Chapter 4: The Hunter, The Prey, and The Unrewarded

Fool's_Gold

Part 1

Hishiro and Mugino glared at each other. There were about 20 meters of distance between them, but she could melt him away easily at this distance without giving him a chance to do anything. This is bad… I need something… anything to get me an advantage, and I need it quickly!

The level 5 talked to the blonde girl a few steps behind her without turning around. "Frenda! Get your weapons ready, we gonna get rid of this bug!"

"Well… Y-you know Mugino… It's not like I don't want to fight, but..." Frenda stammered while trying to find the right words. "He planted an explosive nanodevice on me a while ago. In the end, I can't do anything."

"W-What?!" All other members of ITEM said in unison.

"Hey Frenda." Mugino glanced at her from over her shoulder. "Don't tell me you were so pushy to not go alone down there because of..."

"Tee-hee..." She knew that trying to act cutely wouldn't save her from her punishment later, but there was really nothing she could do anymore.

"You damn traitor! And how did you let yourself get caught!"

"I-I'm so sorry! He appeared out of nowhere while I was in the toilet and got me from behind! I was completely defenseless!"

"..."

The shocking statement made all the pressure in the room get replaced by an almost endless awkward silence.

"As I thought… a super pervert."

"You there lying on the floor, shut up. No peeping is worth what I had to go through to get inside there. I really thought I was going to die." Hishiro had a frightening expression as he said that, enough to make Kinuhata not press the matter any further. "Anyway, the girl is right, I can blow her up at any moment. And at this distance, you would die as well."

Mugino took a step away from Frenda by sheer reflex. "The inter phone lines were cut, the elevator wasn't working… all of that makes sense now. Was it all your doing? Or is there someone else backing you?"

"... I have no obligation to answer that."

Elevator and phone lines? I haven't actually done nothing about that, but the misunderstanding does works on my favor.

"Whatever. Takitsubo can scan the area after I kill you so we can get anyone else that might be hiding around."

"Don't even think about it." The intruder retorted confidently. "I'll kill your blond friend before you have the chance to fire anything at me."

The grin that appeared on Mugino's face sent shivers down Hishiro's spine. He had never seen anything like that before. "Hoh, is that so? Then do it! Go ahead! You blast her and I open a few holes in your chest. That seems like a fair exchange for me."

"W-Wa-wa-what are saying, M-Mugino!" Flapping her arms despairingly, Frenda protested for her dear life. Yet, the cruel Level 5 didn't stop there.

"If you don't, then I'll kill her myself after I'm done with you… well not that you care, right?"

Silence fell once again. Frenda hopelessly kneeled down and seemed about to cry. Her other teammates could do nothing but stare at the scene, holding their breaths. "What are you waiting for, brat? Did your fear of death froze you? Or are you actually afraid to kill people? That would be pathetic at this point! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Or perhaps... " She continued on a lower tone. "it's not that you don't want to, but you actually CAN'T kill her?"

"... Tsk!" Hishiro clicked his tongue and picked his other gun back. Without a second of hesitation, he mercilessly fired several bullets at the three females on the other side of the poll. Mugino simply flipped her wrist and all shots melted away before hitting anything.

"Fweh?" The blonde girl tilted her head, unable to understand why the situation had developed this way. Mugino answered the questions in her mind without even looking at her.

"Say… have you ever questioned how exactly the bomb was planted? It was a bluff, Frenda. If a nanomachine capable of an explosion of this level really exists, it shouldn't be so easy to implant it into people without the proper equipment."

Indeed, all he had done was place his hand on her back. If a nanomachine bomb was in his palm back them… how could he be so sure it was safely placed? What if it was still in his hand? He could only find out once it exploded… which would be too late. That is not how nanomachines are handled. Usually, when one needs to be implanted into a human body, it is injected using a syringe. That's what Academy City does to espers that for some reason needs to leave the city, so they can be located all the time.

"He fooled you. Are you sure you're going to let him get away with this"

Wiping her tears, Frenda stood up again and answered her leader, filled with determination. "Of course not! Thanks Mugino! Hold him for a minute. In the end, I'll be the one blowing him up!"

It's super amazing at how she can be so scary and so inspiring at the same time. Kinuhata was still lying on the floor and could only watch the whole scene unfold while Takitsubo fearlessly crossed the battlefield to reach her.

"Kinuhata, are you alright?"

"Mostly. My foot is super disabled, though."

Takitsubo helped her stand up and supported her friend on her shoulder. Her intention was to take her away from the battle, but Kinuhata stopped her from doing so. "We have to help Mugino. She is super stronger than him, but his ability can be troublesome. Also, he is super informed about us. Just like he had way to deal with my Offense Armor, he may have something prepared to take down Mugino as well."

…

Light beams and bullets were fired constantly in the room. Mugino melted away any shots that came too close to her without needing to stop her attacks, while Hishiro barely managed to dodge the death rays that never ceased as he ran for his life. It didn't take long for him to reach the opposite corner of the room. Without an escape route, all he could do to avoid getting hit by the next attack was aim for the shoot swinging his left hand and…

The beam stopped 50 centimeters away from him.

Mugino looked annoyed as she tried to analyze her enemy's ability "What now? Is this some kind of barrier?"

Null Inertia was an unique ability that may look a bit exaggerated from the outside, but actually it had several restrictions. Hishiro was a Level 3, so the area of effect, mass, speed of the target, number of targets, number of fields created... all of those were limited and had to be taken into consideration into his calculations every time he intended to use it. Meanwhile, Meltdowner was nothing more than electrons shot at extremely high speed, generating light and the deadly heat. At first the speed seems to be too much to be handled with Null Inertia, but when you get the mass of an electron and put it into the formula, it was easier to stop than a bullet from a regular handgun. Actually, Hishiro just had found out that. He had no confidence he could pull it off since he had no idea on how many electrons each beam contained - and because she was a Level 5 after all.

He had no time to feel relieved though.

Mugino let out an angry shout at him. "You think you can stop me with that? YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE DEALING WITH!?" Then 3 more beams were shot at Hishiro who was still holding the first one. As soon as they entered the distorted field, he felt an intense pressure on his entire body, and it got heavier by the second as more and more electrons were targeted by his ability.

To worsen the situation, Frenda came back dressed in her battle attire carrying 3 missiles on each hand. She didn't waste a second to launch them in the air as they ignited and came flying at him. A direct hit by one of them would mean certain death.

Without any time to think, Hishiro tried release the beams and duck down beneath them, but that proved to be a mistake. "Gwaha!"

The moment the mass of electrons were freed, an explosion occurred and sent the crouched boy flying forward into the poll. He felt an intense pain and burning sensation on his back. It was probably on fire before he sank into the water. Luckily, the missiles got caught on the explosion as well and were blown away.

Mugino walked to the edge of the poll, intending to finish him off. However, a hand suddenly came out of the water, grabbed her ankle and pulled her in before she could react.

"Wha- AAAH!"

Your ability take quite some time to activate, doesn't it? So your weak spot is a point blank surprise attack! Hishiro climbed out of the poll as fast as he could and headed to the exit. The only one standing between him and his goal was Frenda, but he didn't had much time before the #4 would come after him. He dashed towards the blonde while she pulled two dolls from behind her.

"This is my payback!" Frenda threw both toys forward at the same time. Hishiro first thought was I can't let it hit me. Then he noticed that she wasn't aiming exactly at him. It doesn't needs to hit me? Are those- It was already too late. The dolls exploded exactly at the same moment, one at each side. He tried to roll to avoid the blast, but even then, several fragments pierced his right shoulder and left leg.

The sharp pain made him fall onto the floor. Frenda walked nonchalantly to his side and repeatedly stomped on his head. "In the end, you're nothing but my prey- huh?" Suddenly, her foot got stuck in mid air. She had experienced this before - it was the boy's ability. The blonde tried to pull it out with all her strength once, twice, three times with no success. "Let-let me goooo!" On the fourth time though…

"Waaaaa!" The field wasn't there anymore. All the strength she had used worked against her, pulling her backwards and making her fall on her back.

Hishiro hurriedly stood up and ran to the exit once more (making sure to step over Frenda on his way). He was about to leave the room when someone called for him. "Aren't you forgetting something super important?"

Kinuhata (who was using Takitsubo's shoulder to stay on foot) was once again holding the USB Drive. What? When did she… Did the explosion back then knocked it away from me?

"Tsk!" Ignoring the pain and the blood leaking from his wounds, he charged at full speed at the females (once again stepping over the blond girl...) and aimed his handgun at them. However, they were just a distraction. Mugino had just climbed off the pool and sent a kick towards the boy.

In his mind, her leg moved in slow motion. This is my only chance. If I dodge this, I won't be able to aim and shoot before she start using those beams again!

All his focus was on his target now. He pulled the trigger… and the bullet barely scratched the right side of Takitsubo's hip. But that was painful enough to make her lose her balance, being unable to properly support her teammate. Kinuhata had no choice but to let go what she was holding to keep them both from falling.

Less than a second later, the brutal strike reached Hishiro, sending the intruder spinning in the air. However, he ignored the pain and used the centrifugal force to shot himself towards the USB drive sliding on the floor. Kinuhata noticed his intentions but she couldn't do anything to stop him in her situation. "Mugino! Don't let him!"

The #4 was already on her way to recover the device. Both her and Hishiro threw themselves on the floor, stretching their arms trying to reach it before the other could.

And…

The boy felt it. It was on his hand. He to stood up quickly and tried to leave as fast as possible, but… there was another hand grasping it. The long, delicate fingers belonged to the monster known as the Meltdowner that stood right before him.

"Let it go!"

"Let it go!"

Both tried to snatch it by force, but it was useless.

"Damn brat! I'll burn a hole through your gut if you don't-"

"Shut up! Don't move or I'll stop your heartbeat!"

"What nonsense is that?"

"My power isn't a barrier! I can stop things from moving, including your organs! I can kill everyone in this room from heart attack anytime!"

Frenda had recovered and was planning a surprise attack, but she gave up after hearing the threat. Actually, everyone was hesitating to making any abrupt move right now - even Mugino who glared at the boy with all the hate she could send with her eyes. "This is just another empty bluff!"

"Try your luck! I dare you!" Hishiro displayed an evil smirk. Mugino face became even more distorted but she didn't talk back.

Stalemate. Technical tie. That's how the situation could be described. None parties could do anything to take the upper hand. Actually, Mugino had the victory on her hands, but she had no confidence. His words seeded doubt in her mind and she didn't had the courage to risk taking a single step.

Yes, this was indeed another bluff. It was impossible for him to calculate where all their hearts would be and create 4 fields accurately at irregular angles and distances to accomplish what he just said. And even if he did, it wouldn't cause an instant death. Their heartbeats would slow down before coming to a stop, giving them a chance to counterattack.

I managed to survive somehow, but what now? I can't let this last too long or they might try something unexpected. I need to act now that they are hesitating! But… what the heck should I do?! I need more time to think...

"If you don't believe me, ask to one of your friends to check your underlings in the lower floors. Though I stopped their lungs until they fainted instead. They weren't worth killing"

Then the anger on Mugino's face suddenly turned to confusion. "What bullshit are you talking about? This isn't our headquarters. The only members here are us."

"...huh?" Now the one confused was Hishiro. "This can't be right. I knocked dozens of agents inside the building on my way here."

"This has nothing to do with us!"

Something was wrong. Hishiro was feeling it since he arrived there, but he had ignored it up until now. This doesn't make any sense… Were they just the facility security? No, that's impossible. Some of them were heavily armed.

"Then what were these people?"

"How the hell should I know?!"

At that moment, everything became dark. All lamps turned off.

"... Is this your doing as well?" Mugino sounded worried for a second as she asked.

"I wish it was..." Answered the boy. He was starting to understand what was going on. "Come to think of it, I had done nothing to the elevator or the inter phone. Also, the building back door was already unlocked when I arrived."

"Which means..." Frenda spoke, and everyone looked at the USB Drive at the same time. Someone else has come for it. And it wasn't just one like Hishiro.

Part 2

Frenda held a pair of military binoculars as she looked down through the window. "We are surrounded. They are sealing all exits using Anti-Skill vehicles to keep any passerby away. By the looks of it, they evacuated everyone from the building aside from us."

"How many of them are there?" Asked Mugino in an annoyed tone. She and the other 2 girls were now properly dressed.

"Right now? About 15, but I saw several people going inside earlier, so I don't know the exact number. Also… " She made a short pause and slightly changed the direction she was looking at. "There are a lot unconscious soldiers leaving on stretchers. You really took them all out on your own?"

Hishiro felt embarrassed for some reason and looked away.

After the power got cut off, he and the members of ITEM moved for another room a few floors below. Here their position wasn't so obvious as it were on the last floor and they could get a glimpse on what was happening on the ground. But it didn't gave them much of an advantage. The only font of light they currently had were Hishiro's communication device (it used a different frequency than regular cell phones, so it couldn't be easily tracked) and a bright orb flying above Mugino's right shoulder. Not to mention that Kinuhata, Hishiro and Takitsubo were not in their top conditions to fight because of the injuries from their battle just now. Frenda and Mugino packed a lot of firepower alone, but having to face this many enemies at once while protecting the others (not counting Hishiro, they would probably just let him die) was not an easy task even for them.

"There." Kinuhata was kneeled down besides Takitsubo, treating the wound on her hip. "This should take care of it. You were lucky that his aiming is super sloppy."

"Thanks." The other girl answered emotionlessly. "But what about you?"

"Oh, you mean this?" She once again examined her bandaged ankle. "I can walk now, so it's getting better, but I shouldn't rely on it too much."

Watching the scene, Hishiro felt a hint of guilt inside him for second. But he wasn't naive enough to apologize or to regret it. He would probably be dead if he hadn't done what he did. He noticed Kinuhata approaching and turned away, hoping for her not to notice he was looking at them.

"Okay, let me see it." Kinuhata said to him with a straight face.

"What?"

"Take off your shirt and let me see it."

"W-what are you talking about?"

"Your back. It's been bothering you for a while now. I saw you being super blown away by Mugino's attack back there. It must be super painful."

"... It's not this bad, I don't need anything. Besides, you could kill me without a problem while I'm turned."

"Yeah, I could. But even though I hate to admit it, we might need your super skills to get out of this alive."

"So you really intend to take care of your enemy wounds?"

"If it's necessary for our survival, yes, I'll do it. C'mon, let me see it."

"Unbelievable..." He sighed and gave up. In fact, his back was hurting a lot since that explosion. The pain really could get in the way of what was about to come. He turned around and took off his jacket and shirt.

"Yeah… this looks super bad. There are burns everywhere." Her voice was clearly disgusted.

"Wow, that's encouraging..." He answered with a bitter smile. "It's all thanks to your friend there."

"Shut up and be glad for being alive, brat." Mugino retorted. "You might not get so lucky next time."

I hope there won't be a next time… As Hishiro thought this, he felt a small hand spreading something slimy on his back. The sensation was awkward, but it did alleviate the pain almost instantly. Kinuhata finished the improvised treatment and stepped back.

"Alright, this should be enough for now."

"Well then." Mugino stood up and everyone else gathered around the table. "We need a plan to get out of here. First of all, we need to know who we are dealing with. Takitsubo?"

The girl answered the request of her leader right away. "I already confirmed that there are no espers beyond us inside the building. We can be mostly sure that there are none among the attackers."

"23 of them were taken care off by this guy already, and there are 15 men disguised as Anti-Skill members in front of the building." Frenda added. "We can't be sure about how many are inside right now, but in the end, it gotta be at least more than 20."

"Unfortunately, they we can't get in contact with our liaison. They might supper intercept the signal if we tried with our phones." Kinuhata said and looked at the boy. "But there might be a chance if we use his."

"Give up." Hishiro quickly shot the idea down. "This device doesn't work like a normal cell phone. There is only one person I can get in contact with using this... But maybe she could be a big help to us right now."

…

After hearing the situation, Asuka sighed in annoyance.

"Really, I can't take my eyes away from you for a second, can I? How come you got yourself involved into this?"

"I just told you how."

"That's not what I meant."

"You think I'm doing this because I like it?"

Another sigh, this one was heavier than the last. "But it is kinda hilarious. You got in there searching for a damsel in distress and now the damsel in distress is you."

"I'll turn you into a damsel in distress. How does that sounds to you?"

"The idea turns me on, but unfortunately you will die of age before even finding me."

"Tsk!"

Frenda and Kinuhata tilted her heads and looked at each other after hearing the awkward bits of the conversation. Takitsubo was just spacing out and Mugino didn't seem to care at all.

"Anyway, Asuka." Hishiro tried to go back to the main point of the conversation. "We need to know who are those guys and we need an escape route. Looking at how well they were equipped, I believe that they are from BLOCK."

"No, that's not it." Asuka got into serious mode now. He could hear her typing violently fast on her keyboard. "Their gear alone isn't enough to determine who they are. Besides, BLOCK don't wear disguises during their operations. The pattern you described… sounds more like something LIZARD would come up with."

"LIZARD? Never heard of them before..."

"That's a good proof of how well they do their job. They excel in infiltration and undercover missions. Though recently they have been doing more silencing than anything else. Why would they be after the imaginary number district is beyond me though."

"If you can't figure it out, then I fear no one can."

"About the escape route… I'm not sure about what might be happening inside the building, since there is no power, but by looking how the outside is, your best chance is to go down all the way to the third floor and jump off the window to the rooftop of the neighbor store. If you manage to do that without them noticing, it all comes to how discreet you are when you leave the store from the front door"

Hishiro couldn't help but smile at the idea. "Smart and stylish. Yup, that sounds satisfying. I knew I could count on you."

"What, are you flirting with me all of a sudden? You gotta be wanting something-"

"Ah, that's right, about that." He cut her out and quickly made an unreasonable request. "I'll be also counting on you to get me another AMCP because mine got wasted by the Meltdowner. Bye."

"I knew you wante- WHAT? The AMCP!? Do you even know how much it costs to-"

Without waiting for her to finish her complains, he hung up and explained the plan to the members of ITEM.

"So basically, all we have to do is fight our way to the third floor and them jump off when no one is looking?" Frenda confirmed. "I have no objections, but..." She then looked at the injured members.

"I can do it, no problem. I don't need to super land on my feet." Kinuhata shrugged.

"It might hurt, but I'll do it." Said takitsubo. There was a very faint hint of determination in her voice just now.

"It's settled then." Approved Mugino. Before they left, she picked up the USB drive on the table. "We just need to decide what to do with this."

"We should destroy it."Hishiro suggested while facing her with a serious expression. "If we fail by any reason, at least they won't get their hands on it."

Frenda protested. "But then, wouldn't all our efforts go to waste?"

Mugino stared at the device for a few seconds before clicking her tongue. "As much as I hate the idea, he is right. This is the only way we can be absolutely sure they won't take it away. And if we kept it, he might try something to snatch it away during the escape. I would rather avoid that. At any case, we have a backup of the contents already. Or some of it at least." Hishiro was annoyed by the last bit but he didn't complained. This wasn't the time to pick up a fight. Mugino disintegrated the precious item and headed towards the exit, followed by the others.

Part 3

Everything went smoothly for the five of them… until they reached the 10th floor. Several armed men wearing Anti-Skill attire were blocking the emergency stairs below that point, and they didn't hesitate to shot as soon as the group got into their vision. Mugino quickly took the front line, disintegrating the rounds raining at them at a terrifying speed and Frenda launched 2 smoke grenades down the stairs. Hishiro reached for the door leading to the hallways of that floor.

This building had 4 emergency staircases located at each corner one of its 4 corners. As long as they didn't barricade all 4 of them at once at the same floor, it was possible to avoid having a direct confront by switching between them every time they hit a deadlock. However…

"Dammit! It's not opening!"

"Step aside!" Kinuhata approached from behind and pushed him away. Then she punched the door resulting in the whole wall being bended with the force of her strike. The second punch sent the door flying, knocking away furniture that was being used to seal the door, along with 6 armed men that were waiting on the other side.

"This way! Quickly!" Mugino and Frenda ceased their counterattack and headed for the passageway, followed by the others. Hishiro was once again amazed by how well their team came together. It reminded him of the time when he was a member of a squad of 6 instead of the lone last remaining member. Heh, how pathetic. I should be glad to not need to deal with them anymore. And this is not the time to be nostalgic.

"They are following us." Takitsubo warned the group right before the barrage of bullets came for them, forcing the to turn in the corner to not get hit. Hishiro, who was behind them all, took his handgun and fired back. Even in the dark, he managed to hit two of them in the leg, one in the head and his last bullet hit the extinguisher on the wall, making it explode and delaying the remaining pursuers.

They safely arrived at the staircase and resumed their descend. A few seconds later their pursuers arrived, but they didn't went after them. Instead, they threw several grenades downwards, but they were pointless. Mugino intercepted them with her beams and even managed to hit one of the attackers.

They went straight down until they reached the 5th floor. Before they could go any further, an explosion happened and the debris blocked their path.

Frenda didn't seem bothered by the obstacle. "We just need to change our route again then."

"No, it won't be this easy this time." Hishiro had no confidence as he spoke. "Didn't you heard that just now? It wasn't just here. They probably exploded all other emergency routes… Do you think you can open the passage?" He asked Mugino.

"It's not a good idea to try. I don't know how deep the obstruction is, it would take quite a while to melt all that and it wouldn't be safe to cross it without waiting for the rocks to cool down. Damn, that's annoying!"

"Should we climb down the elevator pit then?" Suggested Kinuhata, but Hishiro shaked his head.

"That is our only obvious option, and thus it's a trap. They may try to lure us there and kill all of us while we are defenselessly climbing down."

Before they could discuss the matter any longer, they heard steps approaching from above.

"At any rate, we can't stay here anymore!" Frenda took initiative and headed towards the hallway.

However, what awaited for them outside was an ambush.

They were flanked by both sides of the hallway. Behind was the ones that had been on pursuit from before, plus what seemed to be everyone else that was on standby on above floors. On the front was probably all the remaining manpower LIZARD had deployed after them. The good news is that there wouldn't be anyone else to deal with once this battle was finished. That is, if they managed to win…

Mugino frantically fired laser beams against the front team, which was more numerous. She didn't even had to aim, no matter where she fired it was a sure hit on the human wall. But it was pointless as the ones that were shot down were quickly replaced - she couldn't even confirm if the ones that got hit were somehow alive or not. All that while being under constant enemy fire.

Meanwhile, Hishiro And Kinuhata struggled to keep the back team from advancing. She jumped ahead and intercepted most bullets coming their way with her Offence Armor, attacking with her fists when given the chance. He just kept shooting with his pistol, using his ability to slow down the remaining bullets as much as possible turning them into dodgeable and less harmful projectiles.

Frenda went back and forth between the two sides providing support with her missiles and bombs every time they were at a pinch. Takitsubo couldn't do anything in this long ranged battle with no enemy espers, so she watched everything from her cover and instructed Frenda when to act.

"Mugino is being forced into defensive. There are too many of the shooting at the same time."

"Gotcha!"

The blond girl hurled a stuffed toy into the enemy's line, which exploded before it could touch the floor, sending several man flying back. Mugino took the opening and started to attack again.

"I don't have much of those left… Damn, how long will this keep going!"

"I'm running out of ammo as well!" Hishiro shouted. If he loses his only way to fight back, their defense line would fall in minutes.

"Frenda, do you still have some of those?" Mugino asked without taking her eyes from the soldiers.

The blond girl quickly checked. "Just a pair of it… but are you sure? It will make a mess. In the end, we could die without knowing what had hit us if they keep shooting."

"We are dead anyway if we don't do anything!" The leader then pulled 4 card-like objects that resembled solar panels from her pocket and commanded. "Listen up! If you wanna live get down, shut your eyes, hold your breaths and then run when you hear a blast! Frenda, do it NOW!"

Her warning sent a chill down Hishiro's spine and he laid down almost instantly, following her instructions. Kinuhata and Takitsubo did the same. In that instant-

Frenda threw two cylindrical objects to both sides, landing near the foot of the men surrounding them. Mugino threw the objects she was holding as well, and fired a beam at each one of them. The result was like a show of fireworks: the 4 beams flashed through the cards and turned into about 40 light rays that rained on the attackers. But the important part was that they had hit the cylinders as well.

The noise caused by the blast was overwhelming. Hishiro felt it shaking his bones until it hurt. But the worse pain was at his eardrums. Ignoring all that, he stood up as fast as he could and ran without opening his eyes, stumbling several times into what he thought it was the wall or the soldiers. He kept running while holding his breath until his hands touched the wall at the very end of the hallway. From there he turned right and ran for a few more meters.

"Gaaah! Haaaaah!" He breathed in with difficulty when he couldn't hold on any longer. His senses were disoriented, but he forced himself to look behind to see if he was being followed. All he could find was Frenda gasping for air right beside him with her ears bleeding.

"Haaaah, haaaah! T-that was close! Haah…."

"Dammit! Just what the hell was that!" He yelled at her, surprised to almost be unable to hear his own voice.

"A special type of bomb. Instead of causing destruction with the shock wave, it uses intense sound waves and a poisonous gas to immobilizes people in open areas. It also brights a lot when detonated forcibly." She explained with a single eyelid open while wiping the blood coming from her ear with a handkerchief. "Basically, you could call it the world's most powerful stun grenade."

"DON'T MESS WITH ME! What kind of stun grenade uses poisonous gas! You could get us killed with that thing!"

"I know. It was Mugino's idea, not mine. Besides, we're safe now, so don't complain!"

Damn that dragon woman! He cursed countless times inside his mind, but he had to accept: the suicide tactic had worked. Wait, had it really worked? "The others… what happened to them?"

"Dunno." Frenda answered nonchalantly. "For now, let's focus on getting to the third floor. I can't say for sure that we managed to take them all down with that, so we better hurry."

I can't even tell if she trust their skills too much or if she doesn't care at all… With a heavy sigh, Hishiro followed her. They headed to the room 2 floors above the one they had to be to jump out of the building.

"So… what's your plan?"

"Kihihihi~* You wanna know? It's an amazing idea I had back when we were cornered." She said proudly with an impish smile. Hishiro had a bad feeling about this…"So, we are on the right side of the building, but on the wrong floor, right? We can't go down with regular means, so we will open our path right here and now!" And she pointed towards the floor. He understood what she meant right away.

"Are you insane? You just almost exploded us all! You are really willing to blow up the ground under our feet after all this?!"

"Don't worry, I won't be using bombs. Instead..." She then pulled something that looked like duct tape from her skirt and winked at him. Before the boy could ask any further, she went right to work, sticking the tape all around the room. After a few minutes she finally stopped and left the room, pulling Hishiro with her.

"Right. Now all we need is a spark." Using another tool, the girl ignited the edge of the tape network she had built and…the spark quickly ran through the line, spread all around the bifurcations covering the room with a faint light. Suddenly, the floor crumbled right before their eyes. No, it was more like it was cut down from the walls that were supporting it.

"TA DA! The fourth floor is reachable now!"

Hishiro could just stand there, astonished by the sudden display of destruction. "You're really insane… but I can't say I hate your way of doing things. "

Together, they jumped down into the lower room. It wasn't a clean fall with all the debris around, but it was manageable. All they had to do now was repeat the process once more and leave through the window. However, they heard several footsteps coming from the hallway.

"No way… They still had even more people stationed in this floor as well?" Said Frenda in disbelief.

"Crap, we don't have time to do it again. We will have to jump from here."

"What!?" The girl protested while he opened the window and prepared to jump. "Isn't it too high?!"

"Just about 5 meters higher than we were supposed to." Hishiro glanced down the window and lost his confidence. The store Asuka talked about was way shorter than what he was expecting. Even jumping from the 3rd floor could be a problem. But they had no time to back down now. "Are you ready?"

"Of- of course not!"

"It's either hope not to die from the fall or hope not to get shot by them."

"But-but, even if you say that..."

"I'll count to three."

"Wait! Wait a second!"

"One.."

"I'm telling you to wait!"

"Two…"

"Please listen to me!"

"Three!" Hishiro turned away from the window and picked Frenda up. He really intended to princess carry her out of the window.

"Kyaah! Wa-wa-wa-wa-what do you think you're do- WHAAAAAAAAAAA!" Before she could protest any longer, he jumped towards the neighboring building. In the middle of their fall, the boy clenched his eyes and activated his ability around their bodies. It was impossible to breath inside it, and their organs, such as their heart, would completely stop if they stayed there for too long (comically, Frenda's screen also got suddenly silenced). Their falling speed decreased considerably until they finally crossed the whole field and "landed" on the rooftop.

"Ouch!"

"Gyaah!"

As soon as Hishiro's feet touched the roof, he lost balance due the speed and the two of them rolled several meters before finally coming to a stop near the opposite edge of the building. Frenda was the one sent further away, almost falling from the top of the store.

"Ugh... This certainly wasn't as heroic as I thought it would be…" The boy regretted as he stood up. The pain on his back and limbs had came back, worse than before, but he ignored it for now and walked to the blond girl that hasn't got up yet.

"Hey... are you alive there?"

Without moving or even making eye contact, she answered lifelessly. "I'm not sure... am I?"

"Seems like it."

"That just now... you shouldn't treat a lady like that."

"How should have I done it?"

"You have to be more gentle."

"It's not fun enough if it's not rough."

"But it really hurts…"

"Yeah, I know... sorry about that. I just hope they didn't heard anything, or else they'll come after us. You sure made a lot of noise in the end."

"…"

"..."

Hishiro cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject before the conversation became even more weird. "A-anyway, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. It'll be troublesome once they start looking for us. Can you stand up?"

She got onto her feet with his help and both went into the store. If they could leave by the front door without being noticed by the ones surrounding the private saloon, they were safe. After all that happened, it was a simple task.

There was a hooded person waiting for them near the exit.

"Kinuhata?"

"Yo. You two took your super time to get here."

The two girls seemed relieved to see each other safe. "What about Mugino and Takitsubo?"

"They went ahead and told me to wait for you."

"How did you escape?"

"The windows." She answered like it was obvious. "We climbed down two floors by the outside. The rest was super easy."

Hishiro's body jerked after listening. I actually thought of doing that, but there was no way in hell I would climb a building from the outside ever again in my life.

Without paying him any heed, Kinuhata continued to speak. "We should get going. By the way, Mugino told me to bring our super prisoner along."

"Prisoner, huh..." The boy sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I still have one last matter to clear up, so I guess I'll play along for now."

...

The five of them reunited inside the van parked at an empty street. Besides them, ITEM liaison and Asuka were also participating in the discussion through the van's telephone and Hishiro's communication device. The latter let out a heavy sigh after hearing what happened. "What a mess. So, you were just trying to scavenge a particular password that was supposed to be among the files?"

"Yes, but it seems it was all in vain." Answered the woman in the phone. "It was a fake alarm. Among the files that weren't damaged, none of them had any info on the Imaginary Number District or the Five Elements Institute."

"Tch..." Mugino clicked her tongue in annoyance. She was clearly pissed off. "What kind of sick joke is this? You know what we had to go through because of that crap?"

"We were the lucky ones." Kinuhata cut in. She didn't look pleased either. "A lot have super died trying to get their hands on it."

Hishiro remembered about the LIZARD soldiers they had fought an hour ago. At least dozens of them must have died in the battle. Come to think of it, their behavior was really odd. They knew that our attacks were lethal, and they saw several getting hurt or even dying, yet they kept coming at us like it was a suicide mission. Was the Imaginary Number District more important for them than their own lives? He pushed the thought aside for now and focused on the conversation. "Well then, what really was inside that USB drive?"

"About that..." The woman made a small pause before continuing. "Well... I'm not really sure myself. It was full of terms such as Anglican Church, Magic and Grimoires."

"What the hell?"

Everyone reacted in a similar way. It made no sense at all. Had they really fought with their lives for something like this? The liaison continued to explain. "Of course, it probably didn't meant those words literally. It has to be some kind of code so only those involved would understand. After reading it all, my best guess is that it was about ambassadors from England coming into Academy City in secret, and someone being interested in the technology they were bringing with them."

"That sounds super fishy..." Kinuhata said what probably everyone was thinking.

However, Mugino simply rested her head on the window and shot the interest of her team down. "Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with us anymore. We already wasted too much time with this."

But it wasn't over yet. Even if she wanted to ignore it and leave it alone, all of them were already too involved to step back, wherever they wanted or not. Soon, a blackout would happen, the city would be invaded and they would be once again be dragged into a darkness much deeper than they would ever have imagined.

Between the Lines

WATCH. Once it was among the biggest organizations in the darkness of the city. It was divided into 2 teams: the intelligence team (known as GEAR), responsible for gathering info on everything that happened in the city, and the field team (known as Clock-Hand or POINTER), that took action once GEAR concluded that it was necessary.

GEAR had hundreds of members, from spies that joined ominous research facilities on other underground groups to investigate, to the best hackers you could find in the world. Most of the time, they managed to solve all the issues on their own by sabotage or negotiations, so Clock-Hand turned into an elite group that never had more than 7 members and rarely took action.

In a matter of a few decades, WATCH had attained way too much power. They had agents spread all over the city, even within official organizations such as schools, laboratories, industries, even Anti-skill and Judgment. They started to get involved with many subjects that were beyond their original objective and the board of directors concluded that they were a menace. By the label of cutting off unnecessary expenses, GEAR was disbanded and only 2 operatives were attached into Clock-Hand. It was a fact that GEAR was the pillar that kept WATCH in operation, and only 2 people were far from enough to keep up with what was needed to deal with all the information gathering and filtering, not to mention that the directors usually exerted pressure over them to disturb their actions. They barely managed to keep going. Finally, 20 years ago, the directors disbanded WATCH as a whole. Their last activity was a desperate and failed attempt to put an end to a certain project that involved organizations from the outside of the city.

First of all, sorry for the wait. I take way too long to write the action parts... lol. But even so, they were very fun to write, I hope you enjoyed reading them as well. Next chapter we will finally be back to the present (no pun intended). It won't have any fights, so it should be released faster.

Replying to the last reviews I got: thanks for warning me about the summary, I'll be fixing it right away. Didn't noticed it got messed up...

And for those curious about Tsuchimikado's business: don't worry, I'll cover it up in more details later on. He is a character that works behind the scenes most of the time, so he is the perfect candidate to appear in a story about the backstage of the series, right? Expect him to show up a lot in the future, even if he is not among the main characters.

Please continue to give me your support. Reviews are always welcome!