Revenge for them/Revenge for Her

[ACSRS: Zettai Nouryoku Shinka Keikaku]

GV looked at the map he had picked up off the bus. The map showed School District 23 but it had to be large to show much detail.

He traced a finger from where he was to the Tree Diagram Information Receival Center and sighed at the walk. He wanted to get there quickly but if he wanted to avoid notice he would need to walk for at least half an hour to get there.

He got jogging to speed up the travel but when he got there he saw a thin plume of smoke from a window. Judging from the fact he didn't here any explosions it was likely that Railgun had already left. He looked at his map again, trying to figure out where she would have gone.

It was the explosions that told him. He ran towards them, the place was quiet enough that it was unlikely anyone would see him. He soon found the explosion's source. A research facility with smoke pouring out the windows and the one large hole in the wall. Outside the building were scientists that likely worked inside, they were watching as the building was destroyed and likely their data along with it.

GV took the back way in, climbing up the back wall with the aid of the metal inside it. He made his way through the wrecked building, following the source of the smoke to find the path of destruction that Railgun left.

He followed it to a room filled with monitors that showed feed from cameras all over the city. On the floor was railgun, it looked like she had collapsed from leaning against one of the consoles in the room.

GV found a chair and moved it out before sitting down. As he sat the chair squeaked slightly but the sound made Railgun move slightly. She didn't get up but her head tilted slightly.

In a broken voice she asked "Who's there?"

"Genki, Joule lives with me. You met me before on the river bank." He spoke back quietly and calmly.

She moved slightly again but still didn't look around "Why?" It seemed like she was asking a lot of things with that one word so GV just waited.

"Why did you come? How did you know I was here?" She still spoke quietly and her voice cracked as she spoke.

"Put simply, I was hired to help you." he spoke without much inflection

Misaka repeated "Help me?" quietly to herself before finally moving enough so that she was facing him "Who hired you?"

"Shinobu Nunotaba, A scientist for the project-" "I know who she is."

They were both quiet for a moment.

Misaka allowed a quiet sob before muttering "Nothing can be done, can it?"

"So Tree Diagram couldn't help?" GV finally allowed emotion into his tone.

"Tree Diagram has been destroyed." The response was honestly shocking.

The two were quiet again before GV offered his hand to Misaka "Come on, let's go somewhere better to talk."

She considered him for a long moment before lifting her hand and allowing herself to be pulled to her feet.

Together they left the building.

[ACSRS: Sou, Kimeta]

The sun had set by the time they reached the bridge. Misaka had been quietly thinking for most of that time while GV had told her the story of his and Shinobu's attempt to interfere with the sister units.

She had nodded along in parts so she was listening but clearly thinking about other things.

They both leaned on the bridge's rails and they stood there quietly for a few minutes.

It was GV who broke the silence "What have you thought of?"

Misaka sighed "We need the project canceled and it seems unlikely at this point that we could get Accelerator or my sisters to quit. We could turn Tree Diagram's destruction to our advantage however by proving it wrong."

GV remained silent but he had a bad feeling where it was going.

"We can't beat Accelerator," She said it so forcefully as if it were a fact "so the only other variable is the number of moves."

GV finally looked up "What do you mean?"

"Tree diagram predicted that if I was to fight him, I would lose on the 185th move. However what if I was to lose much earlier? They would be forced to see that Tree diagram's prediction failed."

GV looked her dead in the eyes then "So what? You challenge him and let him kill you in the first move?"

She nodded firmly "The scientists would see the prediction is wrong and cancel the project."

GV sighed "I see three issues with that; First in the best case scenario if they did cancel the project, what would happen when Tree diagram was repaired? They would run the calculation again and continue the attempt to shift Accelerator to level 6."

Misaka was silent for a moment before speaking "You would stop it, I don't know how but if you are helping me then that is what I would require of you. To make sure it doesn't happen again."

GV sighed "Fair, okay then. The second issue; What if that calculation was made concidering the variables at the start of the project? If so then Accelerator killing you faster might well be seen as the project working just as intended."

Misaka stayed quiet this time as GV continued "The third problem is the most simple; What would your friends think? Would you be okay with leaving them without any idea of why you died?"

Misaka spoke quietly "It's distasteful but if it saves my sisters then it's worth it."

"And if it doesn't save them?" GV asked

"It is the only thing that could!" Misaka's voice grew in volume as she spoke.

They were both silent for a few seconds. then they heard a meow.

They looked round to see Touma and a kitten. Touma was panting as if he ran here.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked while still panting.

End of chapter

Yes I am cutting it here. The latter half of EP14 will be in the next chapter alongside maybe a bit of EP15.

GV isn't convinced BTW, he just can't think of another option that would stop the project.