Aritomi

[[ACSRS: Level 6 Shift Project]]

"Madarame? Kosako? Do you copy?"

GV stopped and held his hand up as he heard Aritomi's voice. Misaka saw and put Febrie down. The three of them walked slowly towards the open door where they could hear the remaining members of STUDY talking in a panic.

"We are not getting anything from above either!" A woman with brown hair responded to Aritomi.

Aritomi himself was bent over, his emotions likely roiling within him.

"It's not over! It isn't over! We have not been defeated!"

Misaka looked straight at him and spoke suddenly, surprising the room "See, that's where you're wrong."

Shinobu was on the floor and looked hurt. The rest of the members of STUDY had turned to look at Misaka, GV and Febrie.

"You!" Aritomi had a shake of fear to his voice.

Misaka was still holding Febrie's hand as she spoke "I suggest you put an end to this and let Janie go this instant."

"Shinobu!" Febrie had at last noticed her on the floor and the two of them made eye contact.

"Hello Febrie." Her voice was quiet, she seemed to be just as surprised as everyone else that they had made it.

GV shrugged "We came for you, as promised."

Aritomi's expression was filled with hate, he turned away from the newcomers and began typing on the console behind him.

"I won't allow this, Espers triumphant after all the work I put in."

The female member of STUDY looked over in a panic "Aritomi, what are you-"

Suddenly an artificial-sounding voice came from the speakers.

"Code input confirmed, initiating final phase."

An alarm sounded and Shinobu turned to look at a tank behind her. GV walked to her as everyone else continued looking at Misaka. In the tank was a girl identical to Febrie. Beside the tank was a monitoring device, it's screen showing red read-outs.

"Janie!" Shinobu cried softly, it seems whatever Aritomi was doing had affected Janie in some way.

"Don't, Aritomi." "You can't be serious!" the male and female members of STUDY that were left looked like they were starting to panic.

The screen next to Janie had a message pop up. It was titled Final Phase and had a read-out underneath that was too small for GV to read from where he stood with Shinobu.

Still looking at the screen, Shinobu's face tensed "You're setting the system to a runaway state?"

"If you try to force a connection now, she will die." Aritomi slowly turned looking both smug and crazy "This is the final phase, the last possible resort. I'm going to reduce Academy City to ashes."

"Oh yeah?" Misaka spoke quietly "And what exactly are your plans?"

"Seriously now, do you really think I would tell you?" Aritomi took a pistol from his pocket and instead of pointing it at any of them he pointed it at his own head.

GV swore, he wouldn't be able to disarm him safely. Sure he could get to him before he pulled the trigger but the gun could go off after he tried to grab it out of his hands.

Sounds of panic came from everyone in the room. Aritomi just forced a smile though it was clear he was terrified "There's not much time left. I hope you're ready. It's time to die." On that last line his facade broke slightly and his fear was obvious.

GV watched for a chance and as he did he saw Misaka throw sparks, she was likely thinking along the same lines. It might not work but it was worth a try.

Aritomi pulled the trigger. Before the action was even complete the two of them moved. Both dashed closer, GV only noticed later that Misaka had performed a dash like his own by taking a step then pushing against the ground. Misaka pushed the gun up as GV went for his wrist.

"You want to take the easy way out?" Misaka asked. It looked like the quick movement had hurt her hand as a line of blood slowly crawled down her extended arm.

GV twisted Aritomi's wrist to make him drop the gun, it was easy as he appeard to be in shock. He grabbed the gun before it hit the floor before removing it's ammo. As Misaka continuied he began to take the gun apart.

Misaka slapped him, leaving the blood from her wound on his face.

"I'm not going to let that happen."

Misaka looked at Aritmi dead in the eye and began to talk, as she did so. GV knelt down and opened the handcuffs on Shinobu. He then went back to the gun. Once he had a piece removed, he placed it in his own pocket.

[[ACSRS: So, I Decided]

"You know, there was somebody I knew once. He had power he could ever need and he still reached out for more. I also know someone who was a lot like you, ashamed of her lack of an ability, she was willing to do cruel things to make up for her perceived inadequacies. Then there is this group of girls I know, they thought of themselves as tools and quietly accepted and inhumane fate. Lets not forget the biggest fool. The reckless, stubborn girl who thought she could make everything better by throwing her life away."

GV was going to comment there but decided not to break the flow of her speech.

"Now here I am, I've finally figured it out. Life isn't about being strong on your own all the time. I made a promise to my friends, that no matter what I would help Febrie and protect the city. I will keep that promise, even if that means saving you."

Misaka glared at Aritomi as GV stepped closer and spoke "Your whole plan, it seemed faulty. Your plan to make yourselfs greater than the espers mostly boiled down to try to create so many that they couldn't be important. Judging from what I know of the city it would just make the gap wider. With more level 5s, Everyone else would be pushed lower as the board would want to make sure they were all taught. Sure, maybe STUDY would get a reward but it would not change much. Espers would still be given funding as that is what the board cares about. And then you do this? Your halfwit plan goes wrong so you decide that you have the right to destroy the city? you're an idiot."

Shinobu watched the two of them in awe as Misaka continued "Now, what do we do to abort this 'Final Phase'?"

Aritomi said nothing so Misaka raised her voice "Answer me!"

The two other members of STUDY looked afraid but the woman stood up with anger "It's too late now! The Final Phase can't be stopped!" She calmed a little and began to explain "The plan involves scattering over five thousand filaments of Janie's hair in the sky above Academy City, then running her Diffusion Ghost ability out of control. It will trigger a decay chain in the AIM diffusion fields within Academy city. The launch point is in some construction equipment in stationary orbit above the city that is meant to work on the space elevator. It's 35 thousand kilometers up and the missile has already been launched, every second it travels seven kilometers closer to us. In short,"

A tear fell from her eye as she yelled at Misaka and Aritomi in anger "It can't be stopped! Not by anyone, certainly not by you!"

GV checked his watch as Misaka turned away "You're right. I doubt I can stop it."

"About an hour then? Bit over that I think?" GV commented "We've got time."

Misaka smiled "Not all by myself."

She went to the console, found it's controls for the signal jammer and switched it off. Before pulling out her phone.

End of Chapter

I really hope I can finish next time but at the rate I have written these last few chapters it might take two more chapters to wrap up this arc.

If I keep this 4-6 chapters per episode thing we might be over chapter 150 before Railgun season 3. I really hope it doesn't come to that but it will buy time for Azure Striker 3 to come out.

(Also, GV is keeping the gun as a placeholder till he gets Dart Leader back)