IV

Chapter 23: Breaking Into the Steel Hive

Low_Probability

Part 1

A new urban legend was born.

Students from many different districts have been talking about it.

They say that even though MAR said that there were no mortal victims of the earthquakes, that's not exactly true.

They say that there was one girl that came from a rich and influential family from overseas to Academy City about six months ago. That girl had lived her whole life under the guidance of her strict parents and had no freedom until she arrived here. She lived quietly under the discipline she had learned at first, but the temptation of this sudden freedom got the best of her over time.

That's why she broke the curfew to meet some friends in the festival that was happening during that night. The night that boy confessed to her. The night that was supposed to be the happiest memory of her life.

However, soon after she said goodbye to her friends, a poltergeist happened. MAR used their Powered Suits to avoid letting anyone get hurt due to the landslide, but they failed to notice that that girl fell down a few meters away from it when the handrail gave away. She landed head first on the ground below, behind some bushes and died instantly. Her body was hidden by the vegetation and was only found on the next day when repairs were being made.

Ambassadors contacted her family and an agreement to cover up the case was made to avoid diplomatic complications between Academy City and her home country. However, someone wasn't happy with how everything went.

This someone… was the girl herself.

Besides the grief of having her life ending so soon, her spirit couldn't take the fact that no one was crying for her death. Her parents simply treated her like a tool, like they always did. Her friends were told she moved back home, and even though they were a little sad, they lived on as if nothing had happened. Soon enough, no one would remember she had even existed.

And ever since then, once the clock hits midnight, her ghost vagued through the dark streets of academy city and attacked anyone it could find, trying desperately to make herself recognized so her memory would finally be given the treatment it deserves.

…

"G-geez, Saten-san! That's why you wanted to go out that late in the night?"

"What, don't tell me you're scared, Uiharu?"

Saten, who brought up the urban legend topic, poked fun at Uiharu. Besides those two, the only other person that was sharing the table with them was Kuroko, who hadn't touched her cake at all and kept looking at the screen of her earplug-like cellphone. "Frankly, Uiharu. Only you would would fall for such unscientific story. There's no way this is real."

The flower-hair girl looked mad and was about to talk back, but Saten was faster and turned her teasing looking eyes at Kuroko. "Hoh? Then why don't you come with me, Shirai-san? If you are so certain that this is fake, then there's nothing to worry about, riiiight?"

Closing her eyes, the Tokiwadai lady replied without wavering. "As a member of Judgment, I cannot allow normal students to stay out after the curfew. There are real dangers out there in the night that does not involve ghosts or anything of the sort."

"T-that's right, Saten-san! You can't do that!"

"Awww, you two are so boring..." Disheartened, the urban legend hunter sank in the chair and took a sip of her milkshake. "Even so, people are getting attacked, you know? A friend of mine said she heard the screams in the middle of the night."

"Though we weren't officially notified about that." Said Uiharu after finishing her ice cream. "If something is really happening, then maybe Anti-Skill is handling it already?"

The topic finally picked Kuroko's attention and her eyes moved away from the screen. She ate her dessert quickly without saying anything and stood up. "It won't hurt checking with them directly."

"Ah- wait, Shirai-san!" Uiharu protested too late as the teleporter was gone in a zap, leaving the other two friends behind.

"What's with her, leaving so suddenly?"

"It's probably because of Misaka-san..."

Talking about the one who had been absent from their group quite often recently, the two fell quiet and exchanged no more words until they left the shop.

…

Indeed, that was nothing more than a urban legend.

But urban legends didn't simply appear out of nowhere for no reason. They were result of incomplete information, with the curiosity and expeculation of the people that hear about them and pass them forward filling the gaps left by the unknown.

And in some cases, that's actually better than finding out the truth.

In the middle of the night, the ghost girl waited patiently leaning on the light pole beside the road. She indeed looked like an elementary school girl, wore a brown uniform with a Judgment armband, a blue miniskirt and had her blond hair tied in twin pigtails.

Needless to say, she was very much alive and reacted when a luxurious vehicle approached from afar. The preparations were done beforehand, so she simply stood by and watched for the time being.

Without noticing, the driver rode the vehicle over the spikes on the road and drifted sideways before coming to a stop. Only then the girl made her move, walking to the middle of the road showing off her armband. "Halt! This is Judgment!"

The passengers inside were worried at first, but seeing just a single member of Judgment - one that looked just like a little child - they couldn't help but laugh, leaving the vehicle cracking their knuckles and grinning sickly at her. "Are you lost, little lady?"

She had been doing this kind of thing a lot recently, so she knew very well that it was useless to talk to them. Going right into business, she dashed forward at an impossible speed and tackled the man that had just talked to her, knocking him out in that single hit.

Before anyone else could react, she had already jumped about three meters in the air, out of the reach of any light present at the moment. In a blink, two more were down, her hands holding them by their faces as if she had smashed their heads into the asphalt.

A woman in a dark red suit drew out a gun and tried shooting the girl, but she swiftly escaped the bullets as if they were nothing. No, that wasn't all. It was as if the woman's aim was off the entire time. "T-this is impossible!"

"That's what you get from relying on your esper ability to aim, onee-san." After saying those words in a sweet tone, the girl kicked the older female on the neck and sent her flying far away.

Only two of them left. One of them took a step back, not wanting to act on impulse and getting defeated like the others. The other lifted his hand, and an unnatural gust of wind blew around the area, gathering at his palm. No doubt he was some kind of atmospheric manipulative esper.

The girl locked her eyes on him and smiled in a impish way. Soon after, the speed of the air gathered at his hand increased drastically, raising the pressure in the focus point of his ability. Surprised by the sudden change, he decided let go of it out of reflex, but that proved to be a mistake. Out of his control, the air flowed freely in its natural way, expanding all the concentrated mass that in every direction, resulting in a blast of wind that sent the two remaining foes flying in the air.

An unpleasant cracking sound echoed when they finally fell down. Surely they had broken more than just a couple of bones. The girl slowly approached the air control esper and stomped on his stomach hard enough to make him cough out some blood. He panicked and tried to crawl his way out, but she kept him pinned in place, her leg didn't move a single inch from his efforts. The amount of strength she had on her limbs was insane. Seeing that he couldn't power his way out, he decided trying talking to her. "O-okay, I give up! Arrest me if you want, but please don't kill me!"

Satisfied at his submission, she talked in a light tone that didn't match at all her current facial features. "Arresting you would do nothing if your boss is still free to do whatever he wants. But don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. I need you alive to pass on the message."

"W-w-what message?"

The girl leaned her face closer and increased the pressure on her foot, making the esper wince in pain. "Tell your superiors to stop. Kiyama-sensei is under my supervision. If they attempt to lay a finger on her once again, I'll be paying them a visit personally next time, and trust me, they don't want that to happen."

"Just… who in the world are you?"

She stepped away from his body and winked cutely while having her hands on her back. "I'm just a normal member of Judgment doing her job. But if you want my name... then Kihara should be more than enough, right?"

Part 2

August 15, 12:00 PM

The blond girl has been fighting off the many shady organizations of the dark side every night for the past week, and sleep deprivation was finally starting to get to her. She wanted to stay home and rest for today to recover her energy, but this was the day she was waiting for ever since her battles started. So she fought back that urge, swallowed a few pills to keep herself awake and made her way to the hospital once again.

A week ago, while conducting a personal investigation, she came across an unlucky boy that had crossed paths with Accelerator and got beaten badly. As a member of Judgment, it was part of her duty to take action and bring him to the hospital for the proper treatment. However, she noticed right away there was more to that story than just that.

First of all, the boy had a gun.

She took it away from him before handing him over to the doctors. The correct procedure was to inform Anti-Skill right away about the fact. The thing is… that girl was not any member of Judgment, or rather, she wasn't only that.

She was a Kihara, a very peculiar one that was once called a failure by her relatives.

Guided by her curiosity, she used the gun as a basis and investigated the boy. The results were… interesting, to say the least.

After waiting for almost half an hour, the boy finally appeared, heading to the exit until his eyes met hers, making him stop. His expression quickly changed to a bitter one while she just smiled and approached him. "Congratulations on your discharge from the hospital, Hishiro onii-san."

…

"Hey, Shiro..."

"Shut up..."

"You know, I've been wondering for a while-"

"Shut up, Asuka! If you ask anything again I'll turn off the phone right now!"

"Onii-san, you just left the hospital. Getting agitated like this so soon won't be good for your body."

Noticing it was impossible to win against these two at the same time, Hishiro flopped over the table, wondering why he had even survived against Accelerator. The girl didn't mind him at all and just thanked the waitress that had just brought her juice.

Regaining some of his composure with considerable effort, Hishiro cleaned his throat and tried to talk his way out of the situation. "L-listen, I'm really grateful for what you've done, but could please leave me alone?"

The girl tilted her head in confusion and asked. "Huh? I was just worried about you. Were you bothered by it?"

"Cut out the cute act. You've been visiting me every single day since then, and I doubt you're the kind of person that would get that worried over some random person she just met, so you clearly want something out of me… right, miss Kihara Nayuta?"

She clearly wasn't expecting to be called by that name and comically stopped drinking, blinking a few times with the straw still inside her mouth. "Ah- Ahahaha, so you figured it out already? That's not fun. And I even went out of my way to hide it so well… How did you do that?"

"None of your business. Only a fool would spill out the beams in front of a Kihara."

"You're smarter than you look, onii-san." Placing the cup on the table, she took a deep breath with her eyes closed. Once she opened then, her face had twisted into an expression one wouldn't expect to see on an elementary school student. "It is true that I had to keep a tight leash around your neck. After all, you did escape from an hospital before, didn't you?"

Hishiro was already expecting her to be hiding her true nature, but it turned out to be a little more shocking than what he thought. Satisfied with his surprise, Nayuta sank in the chair and crossed her legs over the table, making sure the waitress wasn't looking at her. "Well, this makes things easier at least. That's right, there's something I need to get done, and I could make use of a good pawn like you."

The boy's eye twitched and he struck the table hard with both his hands. She definitely touched a nerve there. "Oh really? Just so you know, I'm not just a piece in some kind of messed game board. Thinking like that will only get yourself killed."

"Tsk tsk, it's the other way around, onii-san. A mere piece trying to play the player will only get itself killed meaninglessly. It may be harsh, but stick to your role okay? You barely have a grasp on the size of the game board, after all."

Hishiro was just a inch away from jumping on the girl's neck when Asuka finally cut in. "My, my, don't you like to act like an expert, Nayu-tan? Now I'm really curious to know how do you pretend to convince me to let you make use of my cute dear pawn."

"H-hey, Asuka! What the heck do you think you're saying?!"

"Shi~ro! You better be the one quiet right now, or else I'll turn off the call and let the stray dogs feed on you to their heart content~*!"

Her tone sounded like her usual playful one, but there was something frightening mixed in there that made the boy swallow his words and step back for the time being. I hope she knows what she's doing…

Nayuta grinned and answered happily. "Oh, it's simple. First - he owns his life to me. Second - what I'm about to propose here will probably interest you both as well, since you were after the people trying to reproduce esper powers with machines."

Asuka made a small pause before replying. "And why do you think that's the case?"

"No need to play dumb, I know everything about you two and New Pointer. Also, just a piece of advice: your hesitation just now was more than enough of a confirmation. If you want to keep yourself on the level of a Kihara, you need to work on information processing ability and keep your feelings on check."

Damn, this girl is no joke. She drove Asuka out of all people into a corner? No, more importantly, if she knows about New Pointer, then that means…! Hishiro put himself on guard and was ready to fight her at any time. After all, their life was being made difficult because someone was hijacking the information network between them and Seria, and to do that, they would need to know who they really are. Even Asuka feel silent, much for the amusement of the little Kihara.

"No need to worry, I have no intention to use this information against you. That is - as long as you are willing to help me."

"... go on." The voice coming from the communication device sounded slightly disheartened, something Hishiro had never heard before.

"All I want is to you to get rid of their group as soon as possible. I know their hideouts, workplaces, all the info you need to get them. But more importantly, their boss needs to be taken care off at all costs, okay?"

"We can't do that." Hishiro answered before Asuka could say anything. "We have clear orders to stay on standby until an opportunity arises."

"That won't do, onii-san. I don't have enough time to wait for that. You're going to do as I say and attack them tomorrow night."

"What?!"

"After that it'll be too late." Nayuta made a serious face before continuing. "Those people are affiliated to the level 6 shift project, so they're obviously desperate. They need it to keep their research going, and the project is just two drops away from collapsing. No, actually one drop already fell, since someone seems to be attacking the facilities related to it. The higher ups are doing all they can to hide the chaos from the rest of the dark side to keep chaos from spreading, but they can't fool me. They still need to do another 10,000 experiments, and they won't last that long."

"Is it about the Sisters?" Asked Asuka. "What happens to them if the project is canceled?"

"Who knows. They could be handed over to another organization that may not be willing to cooperate with other groups, or they could be all discarded. That's exactly why they - who need the Sisters to do their research - are in a hurry. They are already mass producing those machines, even the ones at the testing stage, hoping to push out any results they can accomplish if the worst happens. Do you know what this means?"

Silence. Both Hishiro and Asuka knew very well. Even if they are still incomplete, those were made based on a Level 5 powers. The more of those they have, the more difficult the situation becomes. In fact, it could be impossible for Hishiro to handle it alone if they decided to put a single one of those to use.

"Fine..." The boy finally broke the silence. "Sounds like it'll be better to solve this sooner. But I don't get why are you even asking me to do this."

Nayuta placed her index finger on her chin and answered while looking upwards. "Hmmm… let's say they are a common enemy for the both of us. Is that enough for you?"

"Well, that was a given already. But I have the feeling you won't say anything further, so I'll just give up on that."

"A wise decision, onii-san." Finishing the juice, she leaped out of the chair and waved to Hishiro before heading to the exit. "I'll be sending you the details later. Be ready for tomorrow, okay?"

…

"What do you think, Asuka?"

The heavy sigh she let out was enough of an answer. "I hate to admit it, but she got us."

"Should we inform Seria about this?"

"I don't think it's a good idea. If this girl can really access our communication lines, she will notice right away."

"And I assume she will be keeping an eye on me, so a meeting is not an option either."

"Exactly. It will be easier to explain to Seria-chan later once we're done than to warn her now. And I bet she won't be happy to hear it at all."

"So what now? We're just gonna play her game? This sounds like a bad idea to me. If this is some kind of trap, I'm done for."

"There's that, but if there is truth in her words, waiting much longer would be suicidal as well. In any case… it's not like we have no means to fight back."

This made Hishiro abandon his frustration and grim in joy. "Oh yeah? That's what I like to hear. What do you have in mind?"

"For starters, we could blackmail her using this panty shot I took when she carelessly lifted her legs-" She was interrupted by a loud BANG caused by the boy flopping on the table again. "What's with this reaction? Here, let me send it to you-"

"JUST DON'T!"

"Are you sure you're not interested, onii-san?" Hishiro literally growled at her while she laughed, all the tension from before was gone from her voice.

Part 3

August 19, 10:25 pm.

By this time, most people who had a job in Academy City would be in their homes, or at least heading there to rest after a long day of work. Some passionate researchers would work overtime every now and then, but alongside the night guards and Anti-Skill in patrols, those would be exceptions to the rule.

However, this wasn't the case for this facility in particular. Hishiro had been hiding on the brushes on standby outside for a few hours now, and not a single soul left the place, despite the large amount of vehicles parked around. "Just great… Are they expecting to be attacked or something?"

"It may sound funny, but it seems they were attacked in the last week. Turned out to be a misunderstanding, so it wasn't anything big." Informed Asuka as she scrolled through the results of her search. "And to be honest, there are very few records of vehicles going through the gates… actually, only the regular staff members of Nagatenjouki Academy and a few more moved in and out in the last 15 days. They must be really desperate to finish what they are doing there."

"Nagatenjouki Academy, huh..." The boy paused for a few seconds and narrowed his eyes, remembering what the Aleat had told him earlier that month. "I wasn't expecting to hear this name again so soon. It's just a coincidence they are involved according to that girl, but still..."

"Well, they are a prestigious school, so of course they would be involved with important research. Don't you think it's obvious, onii-san?"

"When you put it like this, it makes sen- WHA! Nayuta?! When the heck did you got here! No, more importantly, what are you even doing here?!"

The blond girl giggled and sat down on the ground next to him. "Of course, I'm here for the same reason as you."

"Don't tell me you're planning on going inside with me?"

"Huh? Is it a problem?"

He was about to refute her saying that she would hold him back, but he held back on the last moment. She was a Kihara after all, so she was probably prepared to face whatever they would find inside. "... no. But don't blame me if you get yourself killed."

"I can take care of myself, you know." She pouted while looking away. "I am a member of Judgment, after all."

"And you could also have told us you were going to join in."

"But I told onee-san about it."

"Onee-san? You mean… ASUKAAAAA!"

"Oh, sorry Shiro. It must have slipped my mind."

"THEN WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!"

"Onii-san, you're too loud! They are going to find us!"

Hishiro made a mental note to get back at her later and calmed down for the time being. He had to focus on the job at hand if he wanted to survive through this. While he confirmed if his guns were properly loaded one last time, Nayuta checked her cellphone and prepared herself to dash in at any moment. "10:29… It's almost time."

And with perfect punctuality, a white truck came down the street and turned towards the facility's parking lot exactly at 10:30. "I guess they need to refill the supplies at regular periods if they are staying in for so long," commented Asuka.

"And that's our chance. Are you ready, onii-san?"

"As ready as always. Let's go!"

The two of them ran from their hideout to the back side of the truck and waited that while the driver talked with the porter over the inter-phone. After a few seconds the gate opened and they moved towards the right side of the truck, following it as the vehicle moved inside. This was a necessary step because there were sensors on the gate that could detect if someone sneaked in after a vehicle passed through, but it couldn't detect if someone got inside besides the vehicle. The only other security system that would be a problem is the moving camera, but Hishiro used his ability on it to stop it from moving, thus allowing them to get by on a blind spot.

Once inside, the darkness of the night was all they need to stay hidden, so they let the truck go ahead and crouched behind the wall of the nearest building. Hishiro took a good look around to confirm if there were any guards nearby before asking. "So, which ones of those are our targets?"

Nayuta quickly opened the GPS function of her cellphone and pointed to the buildings while explaining. "First, we shut down the factory here to create a distraction and stop the production. This should give us 20 minutes to complete our mission. Then we head to the storage and destroy everything they have inside, and lastly, we go into the office and apprehend the head researcher. With that done, our job is complete."

"Ugh… our schedule seems pretty tight."

"By the way, this is not going to work as planned, so be prepared to improvise on the way. As long as all of these things are done, it doesn't matter what happens in the middle of it."

The more she talked, the more hopeless the boy felt. In a way, she was outright saying that it didn't matter if one of them was killed when things go wrong if the objective is achieved. "You seem really calm about this whole thing, knowing that we are in a huge disadvantage." The girl said nothing and continued to watch the surroundings for an opportunity to move on.

"Isn't it better if you two acted separately then?" Suggested Asuka. "Nayu-chan moves faster, so she could take care of the factory while Shiro goes for the storage in the opposite direction. You two can meet up at the office later."

"But then it would be all over if we end up having to fight one of those machines in the way."

"Onii-san is right, but splitting up would be more effective… let's just do that. After all, we have no guarantee that we could take them out by fighting together either."

The two of them nodded and went in different directions. Hishiro kept quiet until she was far enough. "Heh, who would have thought she would actually agree with it. That was a good one, Asuka."

"It's her own fault for underestimating me." She said proudly. "She would probably reject the idea before, thinking we would run away. And now, she can't use you as a meat shield, in case the worst happens."

"I still hope it doesn't comes to that. I'm sick of the level 5s already, even if it's a cheap copy of them." Hishiro shivered just from remembering his fight against Mugino and Accelerator. "Make sure to keep an eye on her, Asuka."

"Sure. With the factory out and the storage wrecked, you can leave asap and let Seria take care of the rest even if Nayu-chan fails to reach the office."

Part 4

After sneaking his way through the facility for about ten minutes, Hishiro arrived at the storage. "Asuka, I'm at the destination. How's Nayuta doing?"

"She's already done with the factory. According to her estimate earlier, you have 14 minutes left."

"This is going way better than expected. It's almost scary." Still, there was no time to waste. He confirmed that the entrance was locked, meaning the there was no one inside right now. Then he picked the small explosives he brought and planted them on the steel gate. After hiding at a safe distance, he detonated them, causing an impressive loud explosion when compared to their size, and opening a large rift on the gate.

There were no apparent light switches inside the dark room, so he had to use a lantern to see anything there. And when he did… "Holy… shit..."

Nayuta's prediction about the machines mass production was already bad enough, but the reality was way harsher than that. Form the outside, this storage didn't looked more than a simple warehouse, but the interior was massive, going several meters underground… and all of it was stacked with powered suits of various shapes, enough to make an army of them. "Asuka… this is a problem. I can't destroy all of this with the equipment I currently have. There are hundreds - if not thousands of them here."

"What? That many?"

"Yeah, this place goes deep underground. I can't even see the bottom with this flashlight. Even if I could destroy the building, I doubt the whole structure would be damaged. It would be possible to dig some functional stuff out of the debris."

"Are you sure they're really working though? Because if they are, you could use their firepower to destroy the others."

"Wait - do you want me to pilot one of these? How am I supposed to do that? I never rode anything like this before in my life!"

"We don't have any other option now. For starters, get into one of them and show me the panel. I'll try to help you from here."

Groaning in annoyance, the boy took a quick look at the Powered Suits nearby. One in particular caught his attention. It looked like a scorpion and had a impressive looking barrel at the end of the tail. "Well, if I gotta do this, then I might as well enjoy it."

He made his way the the machine while grinning and tried to climb it, but the moment his hand touched it, he heard several mechanical noises coming from within. Don't tell me… it's turning on?

Out of shock, he took a few steps back and accidentally stumbled in another powered suit, one that had an humanoid shape and was equipped with a large cannon on the right arm and some kind of steel pole on the left. It also turned on on the spot.

Hishiro tried to not make any other careless moves and stood still, hoping for them to just shut down… but it didn't happen. A red dot in each of them pointed at him, indicating that their cameras had recognized his existence there. Just a second later, they both attacked with their limbs, almost hitting him who had jumped away in the last moment.

"Asuka, they are set to activate upon touch! Now I have two of them trying to kill me here!"

"Seriously?! Those aren't supposed to be automated!"

"Either Nayuta was wrong about that or she lied on purpose. Do you have any other brilliant ideas?"

"Hold on, I'm thinking about that!"

Meanwhile, the automated weapons made their move. From the scorpion's tail, a large missile came flying at him. He was able to dodge it easily, but the heat and the shockwave caused by the blast sent him flying towards the other one and he fell just beside it. Then, the humanoid machine made a weird noise and Hishiro felt a strong electric shock run through his whole body. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Stopping the current with his ability, he managed to roll away and stand up. The Scorpion ran to his side and tried to rip his head out using the saws attached to its arms, which he managed to avoid by ducking beneath them and sidestepping.

Dammit… if a replica hurts that much, I don't even want to imagine how it would be like to get attacked by the real #3. But why didn't the other attacked me with electricity as well? Trying to keep his mind working in this unreasonable situation, Hishiro kept a safe distance from the enemies and shot with the AMCP. The scorpion moved ahead and took all the bullets… without even a scratch. "What the-"

The boy had no time to be surprised as the machine attacked again, firing another missile. Having learned his lesson, Hishiro ran past it and kept himself away from the blast. But even though he avoided the damage, the shockwave knocked several other powered suits, and he could hear mechanical noises coming from all of them. "You gotta be fucking kidding me..."

The number of enemies increased by the dozens all of a sudden. Electrical sparks, bullets, iron sand swords controlled by steel poles… All of these attacks came rushing at him at once and all he could do now was run and pray to not get hit.

The good side is that the place was cramped with these things, so he had more than enough cover. But the bad side is that whenever one took the damage for him, it would activate and attack him right after. "No good, no good, no good, no good, no good at all! Asuka, hurry up!"

Without much option, he turned right on the corner and climbed down the stairs to the floor below. This was an attempt to buy time, but it worked against him in the end as they simply jumped down faster than him and resumed the assault, thanks to the spiral-like structure of the floors of the building. He stopped the deadly iron sand from cutting hum in half with his ability, sidestepped bullets, kept away from the sparks and tried to retaliate, but all his bullets were neutralized by the scorpion.

The boy ran out of space again pretty quickly and headed to the next stairs, but a powerful gust of wind followed by a deafening noise passed by him just before the first step, making him roll down the stairs painfully. He barely could see anything while falling, but he managed to notice the orange line of light just beside where he was standing a moment ago. Was that… a railgun?!

Swallowing dry, he forced himself to his feet again and dashed away as fast as he could, expecting another shot of that. And just as he thought, it came, piercing through several of the other powered suits. "It's impossible take cover from that!" Once again, he prepared to fire, but taking a different action. His first shot was aimed at a machine that was still on the floor above, and as predicted, the scorpion intercepted it. Then he unloaded his remaining bullets at the railgun shooter and finally managed to land some hits, as the other powered suit couldn't make it in time to defend. By hitting its legs and left arm, the weapon was neutralized… but that was only one of them. Suddenly, 3 more railgun shots were fired from above, followed by another missile from the scorpion that - somehow - looked mad for being tricked. "Ah, c'mon!"

Hishiro avoided the shots, but with 3 of them capable of doing that, he wouldn't be able to escape for long. Not to mention that now lightning spears were being fired as well. If this continues, I'll run out of breath in no time. I have to get them off me.

Making his mind, he jumped to the floor below without using the stairs. Using Null Inertia, the fall speed was lessened, but it still made his legs hurt a bit after landing. He repeated the action thrice, hoping to leave the enemies behind, but unfortunately, he underestimated them. The scorpion jumped all the floors at once and landed with no damage, followed by other two suits that adjusted their landing with magnet-like things attached to their legs which emitted sparks that looked like safety wires attached to the metallic floor.

He was surrounded now. All of these killing machines were ready to attack with nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, and no way to fight back. Smiling bitterly, he reloaded the cannon pistol, took out his revolver and pointed one to each side. "Fine. Let's dance our way to hell then. Come at me, you pieces of junk! I'm not going down in a place like this!"

Between the Lines

Hashimoto knew what was happening. He knew what would come after this. He saw the intruder trough his personal micro security camera, which means it was all over. "Just curse it all. We were so close..."

Pressing the hidden button beneath the table, he spoke on the microphone. "Yukiko-san. I'm sorry to inform you, but it seems we ran out of time in the end."

"I see… it is indeed unfortunate." Said the woman on the other end of the line. He was actually impressed that she was still at her office at this time, as he only intended to leave a message for her. "It's okay though. We haven't lose this war yet. Can you make your escape?"

"I will try, but there's an assassin coming for my life, it seems. This might be the last time we talk."

"Hopefully that's not the case. Go now. I will contact Takayama and see what we can save to move the plan to the next step."

"Thanks." With that, he got off his chair, took off his lab coat and opened the window. Studying the height with his bionic eye he knew that he had little chances of survival after jumping. However, there was no time to hesitate, as he could hear steps coming from the other side of the door. "Who would have thought that a scientist like me would be counting on the possibility of my own calculations being wrong." He then guided his hand to his artificial eye and with a push of a little button, it turned off. Having lost half of his sight felt comfortable for the first time of his life, since the depressing numbers were no longer being displayed. All that was left now was take a step forward and let luck decide on his fate.

…

Yukiko Hayashi - the principal of the Nagatenjouki Academy - rubbed her temples after a brief conversation with Takayama and other members of the staff, while moving pieces on the chessboard he had placed on her table. With her index finger, she knocked down the white horse and tower, and then placed the black bishop behind the pawns' defense line, dangerously close to the king. "I guess you can't win without making the necessary sacrifices. And even then, victory is not granted, but still… beneath this uncertainty is where lies the thrill of this game." With one last movement, she took the white queen and placed it on the middle of the board, where it could take either the bishop, the knight and the black queen in a single move.

Hello once again, my dear readers. First of all, I apologize for the wait. It's shameful to admit, but I kinda ran out of ideas for a moment (and by that I mean 2 weeks), but luckily for us all, it didn't last long. And it won't happen again, as the next chapter is the climax of the arc.

So, Kihara Nayuta is the one making a debut now. For those who don't know, she appears in a side story called Toaru Jihanki no Fanfare, but you won't need to read it to understand her role in the story as I'll give enough explanations soon enough. Since she has almost presence in the books, there's a high chance of he being a mainstay in the fic.

Now, my next apology has to be once again to my main character. Having to deal with a Kihara, and then being sent to fight against countless high end powered suits right after recovering from the battle against Accelerator was cruel. At least he looked like a badass in the end. I honestly hope I can write a satisfying outcome to that battle. Hahaha…

The crack shipping guy: Accelerator won't be playing a major role, at least not for now. From this point on he's too busy being shot in the face and recovering in the hospital (or not, given by what happens in the manga), which is why I placed him in the spotlight now that I had the chance. Hishiro's ability… is a topic for another arc, so I can't answer it right now… actually, the subject is going to be touched upon a bit next arc, so hold on for just a bit. As for Touma vs Hishiro... well, if it's just a fist fight, then Hishiro wins. Remember Touma's first fight against Tsuchimikado? While Hishiro is not a martial artist, he has a lot of combat experience for being involved in the dark side for so long, so the fight would go in a similar way. However, an actual battle between the two would be unpredictable, because Touma has quite a few jokers up his sleeve, such as breaking the will of his opponent or the thing inside the IB, so it would depend on the circumstances.

Guest: Well, it wasn't Kuroko. Sorry for misleading you into thinking that on purpose. I couldn't resist the urge to do so when I noticed how similar their descriptions would be if I gave just so many details.

Sargent Crash: Now I'm curious to what exactly you're referring to. Feel free to PM me if you don't think it's a good idea to ask on the reviews section, but keep in mind I won't be able to answer everything to avoid spoiling the surprises.

Finally, a warning: Next chapter will be action packed. With some important revelations. And a character that has been away for a while will be back. Look forward to it. Thanks for your support and see you all next time!