A new start

[ACMI: Emptiness]

Lumen first checked the diner on the off chance that Last Order would still be there. She had left there already of course but it was worth looking. Now she just had to choose which way to search first. Her sight switched over to seeing AIM waves

It was the sound of a large crash that caught Lumen's attention. She looked in the direction of the sound but there were a few buildings in the way.

She flew over the buildings to search for the origin of the sound but it was a lot of area to check.

After a moment the solution then presented itself when she saw a large number of waves being thrown out by something nearby. She approached the source and found a crumpled car that looked like hit had hit something then been towed away.

She saw a man trapped by one of the car's doors. It looked like it had been damaged as he tried to leave so it was acting to prevent him from escaping. The man hid slid down to the floor beneath the car and wasn't moving other than to breathe.

[ACMI: Impatience]

Then she saw him. A pair of pants stuck out the other door at the front. She flew down to confirm and saw it was indeed Accelerator. He had his hand on Last Order's forehead and seemed to be concentrating hard.

Last Order herself seemed to be unconscious and there were a set of electrodes attached to her head which were wired into a small laptop nearby. All in all it looked very suspicious to Lumen. She was also speaking quietly but as far as Lumen could tell it was all gibberish.

She began to speak through her link to GV "Hey, I may have something here."

GV replied after a moment "You found Last Order?"

"I found both of them. There's also a scientist here too but he looks out cold-"

Lumen cut off as she noticed said scientist had woken up. The man drew a gun that he had hidden and turned to point it towards Accelerator.

"Get away. Don't interfere." The man's voice was pained but the gun barely wavered. Accelerator just looked at him in a way that said something to the effect of "Why now?"

Lumen didn't understand what the man was thinking. Accelerator would just reflect the bullet back. The two looked at each other for a few moments. Accelerator didn't budge.

The man fired. The bullet hit Accelerator in the head.

Lumen saw the waves of AIM that were Accelerator's power spike for a moment as he fell back before suddenly fading away. She couldn't believe it.

"GV!" She yelled down the mental line.

[ACMI: Curse]

She had just watched a man be shot dead. Sure, Lumen had seen it before but those had always been people that Gunvolt shot. People that GV shot were bad people. Accelerator was a bad person too but according to Last Order...

She shook her metaphorical head. She was shaking and possibly in shock.

She hadn't known the names of most of the people that GV had shot. Those names she did know had done horrible things without repenting.

Had Accelerator been trying to repent? Had she just seen someone who was trying to repent get shot?

Again she shook herself. She was falling into a strange spiral. She took a metaphorical breath before focusing on what was happening again.

The scientist had started to laugh.

"I don't know how but he's lying there dead and I'm still alive!"

He was cut off by a beep from the small laptop that was attached to Last Order. Last Order then began to speak in a slightly robotic voice.

"Error Alert, immediate action: break code from 0000001 continuing through code 0357081. Threat found and eliminated. Host command has been canceled due to illegal process. Delivery has been terminated. Subject 20001, beginning reboot process."

The scientist was shocked "It's been canceled? The unit is restarting? No! The virus failed to trigger?"

The gun came up, this time pointing at Last Order.

Lumen knew she needed to do something but didn't know what or how.

As the man fired though a hand shot forward and the bullet was reflected back to destroy the gun. Lumen looked around to see Accelerator bleeding from the forehead but still managing to stand. He staggered slightly.

"What? You're alive?" The scientist had been knocked to the floor and his had was bleeding and likely broken.

As Accelerator climbed through the car to get to the man the scientist continued "I see, That's what you did! You managed to reflect the bullet, right before it entered your brain! That's it right?"

Accelerator was blocking the wound with his hand to stop the blood flow. Lumen wondered why he wasn't using his power to do it.

The scientist continued "But what do you think you're going to do now? It's already to late for you, you're beyond saving!"

"Oh I know that," Accelerator's voice was slightly slurred "I've known it for quite a while now. Who would want to save me anyway? Like anyone would waste their energy on scum like me. The very idea is so ridiculous it almost makes me laugh. No, I'm done with wishful thinking. It makes me sick, the person I've become. But that doesn't matter."

He held is arm out to the side "It has nothing to do with that kid, nothing whatsoever. True I'm responsible for killing more than ten thousand of the sisters. But that doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and watch the other ten thousand die because of you. Yeah I know, coming from me you think it's just lip service but I promise it's more than that. It doesn't matter that you and I are nothing but human scum or what justifications we might make." His voice noticeably slipped to slur slightly more then "It's not about us, it's about her and I'm telling you she doesn't deserve to die!"

Accelerator lunged forwards with a clumsy punch but before he could strike again he collapsed to the road.

Lumen didn't hesitate then, she had seen his emotions with her power and knew he spoke the truth. She saw a part of him that was like Gunvolt. The part that would protect a girl because it was the best thing to do."

[ACSA: Kindness of the Strongest]

Her song was quiet but it only had one effect. Too much damage had been done already and unlike GV, Accelerator didn't have an ability that increased his rate of healing. She couldn't prevent brain damage but she could stop anything important from being lost.

She looked up to see a new problem. The scientist had drawn a new gun and pointed it down at Accelerator. He had realise, like Lumen, that Accelerator's power had been cut off and was preparing to kill him

[ACMI:Anger]

"That's just too bad now isn't it? Looks like playing the hero didn't work out for you. Kudos for trying but you didn't have the strength for it. Not surprising, people like us weren't built for noble deeds and self sacrifice. That's just the way it is I'm afraid."

Lumen closed her eyes, nothing she could do would give Accelerator the time to redeem himself if he took another bullet now. Unless...? Could she tamper with his AIM field to get his reflections working again? No, if she did that it would be impossible for a surgeon to get the first bullet out.

Finally she heard the sound she had longed for: Lightning.

[ASG2: Opening Stage (Gunvolt)]

The scientist looked up in surprise as GV dropped from the nearby building's roof. He pointed at the scientist and shot out a tiny bolt that missed entirely "Freeze."

The scientist raised the gun toward GV "An Electromaster?" before the sound of a gun being cocked came from behind as well he turned to see a woman behind him with a gun pointed at his chest.

"Yoshikawa?"

The woman was silent for a moment before speaking quietly "Drop the gun."

[ASG: Cyanotype]

In time an ambulance came for Accelerator. The man, Ao Amai, was arrested. Meanwhile Lumen and Gunvolt headed home.

They were silent for most of the journey home but about halfway there Lumen admitted "I healed him after he was shot."

GV was silent and a moment later Lumen continued "I saw his feelings, he was prepared to die in order to save Last Order. I think he honestly is looking for a way to redeem himself."

GV wasn't going to argue. He knew that everything that Lumen did was subconsciously agreed to by Joule as well and he trusted Joule to judge well.

If Accelerator truely sought redemption then he had a long road in front of him. No amount of jail could pay for his crimes and death would just mean he never found a way to make up for the damage he had done. Assuming he survived the to see the future and he continued to search for a way to make amends he agreed with Lumen's choice.

They were silent until they reached their own street were GV spoke "We've had a long few months. Lets rest and try to get some sleep."

Elsewhere in the city, A girl was rescued from a mage.

And so August ended, in the early morning of September the first. Accelerator opened his eyes in a hospital bed. He fell unconscious again moments later but in that moment he felt at peace.

End of chapter.

Well then. I have been thinking how I wanted to do this chapter for a long time now. My thoughts about Lumen or GV somehow helping Accelerator avoid brain damage has been on my mind since the story started and I kept going back and forth since then.

Now, Accelerator still has brain damage but it is much smaller than it was before. He will still need the electrode on his neck to use his ability at it's full potential but without it he is now able to still walk and talk (albeit with a crutch and his voice will be slurred) He would also have minor paralysis around his body without the electrode but he is overall much better off.

Originally the reason I went back and forth was due to not wanting to mess up the stations of canon but I think with this change it is still mostly the same. He still needs help from the network to be the number 1 ranked esper but he doesn't need them to live a "Normal" life. Of course he won't be allowed to live a "Normal" life so it all evens out.