Do you trust me?
[ACSRT: My Genius Ability]
Joule sat in a car with Misaki as they left the others behind. The driver was the man who had been her distraction earlier.
"They'll come to their senses in a few minutes." Misaki explained "There's a mental block in place to keep them from noticing the lost time."
"And what's stopping them from noticing I've left?" Joule asked.
Misaki gave a slight tilt of her head before explaining "They'll think something came up and you had to leave. No mental block necessary. They'll probably end up calling you or Railgun-" she paused for a moment then nodded "Oh, put your phone on 'busy'. We have a lot to talk about. They also won't call Railgun first, mental block to keep everything on track."
Joule was seeing behind the cover of the Level 5 and was coming to a simple conclusion, she liked controlling what was going on. Literally in some cases.
"So, what's actually going to happen?" Joule asked.
Misaki nodded toward the road they were being driven down "We're going to Misaka now. My clique is keeping an eye on her. When we get to them, you'll allow me to access her mind. After that she'll stay with them for the rest of the day along with any of your friends who won't work with me."
"About that," Joule noted "what are you actually going to alter, I want to keep her as safe as possible and that does include from you."
Misaki turned to her, her eyes narrowing "You agreed to work with me on this. Are you going to back out?"
Joule shook her head "I just want to know that my friend is going to be safe."
Misaki nodded "She's already started her own investigation, I'm going to remove her memories of whatever she's discovered so far and give her an inclination to stay with my clique for the day. I've already had a teacher tell her to do that but this way she'll actually do it."
"You seem to be able-" Joule didn't really know how to finish that sentence but she pushed on "to predict her well?"
Misaki shrugged "She's not really that deep. You've seen right?"
Honestly, Joule thought her friend had a lot of depth but that wasn't a discussion to have now. Instead she just shrugged and Misaki continued "As I said, any of your friends you can convince to work for me will join us then and the rest will hang around my clique until we're done. They'll keep them out of danger, you have my word."
Joule looked out the window. Misaki noticed and said "We still have a few minutes left to go."
[ACSRT: Factions and Plots]
"Enough time to tell me what's going on?" Joule asked.
Misaki shrugged "Does the name Gensei Kihara mean anything to you? Of course it does, doesn't it?"
Joule shivered "He tried to kidnap me a few days ago."
The level 5 nodded "I heard about that. I think it's part of the same project that he's working on now. He probably wanted you for something quite similar to what I need you for, tampering with Railgun's mind."
"So now he's taken a sister to do something similar?"
"Not quite." Mental out corrected "He tried to get one but I managed to rescue her."
"You rescued...?"
"Don't look so surprised." Misaki rolled her eyes "I'm not evil. A girl was in danger and I helped her."
Joule breathed a silent sigh of relief. Misaki viewed the sisters as people. In that case-
"So you need to keep her, them, safe?"
"There are too many of them for that." She corrected "I'm going to need to go after Kihara directly. For that he needs to be in the open."
Joule nodded "So, how can I help. I want to help somewhere."
"Any of your friends that stay out of this will be able to help protect Misaka," she began "any with combat training will help defend the sisters. You..." There was a pause as she thought about it for a moment "you're a wild card in this. The old man shouldn't know that I've recruited you, call your boyfriend later, I can have the both of you defend something of mine."
Joule nodded slowly, defense was better than nothing. It was clear though that Misaki was thinking about something. All of Joule's friends would be defending something. Misaka, the sisters, whatever Misaki was hiding. Was Misaki prepared to attack alone then.
"She is a level 5." Lumen noted quietly and Misaki's head spun.
"There."
Joule froze as she heard a squeek from Lumen.
"I was wondering for some time now. An alternate persona acting as a regulator for your power? Clever. Intentional or...?"
"I think so." Joule admitted quietly as Misaki studied the butterfly. She had managed to catch her out of the air. She was a level 5, as Lumen had said. Misaka had been able to see and hear Lumen as well.
Misaki let go of Lumen's avatar which flapped back to Joule's head.
Just then, the car stopped. Joule looked out the window to see a small park.
"We're here." Misaki noted "Misaka is on the other side of the park, now if you don't mind..."
She pulled out a controller and pointed it at Joule before pressing it.
A strange fuzzy feeling passed through Joule before Misaki switched controllers and used it again.
"Okay, parasite link secure. Just access Misaka's mind and I'm in."
The door of the car on Joule's side swung open on it's own and Misaki waved "We'll still be here for a few minutes. Do hurry though."
Joule slipped out of the car.
[ACSRS: Quiet Stratagem]
Joule walked across the paved path with trees on either side. The park wasn't very large, maybe a two minute walk around it. Joule crossed to the other side in less than 15 seconds and saw Misaka quickly.
She was sitting, leaning against a small wall. Misaka noticed her at the same time and a smile formed on her face.
Joule watched with a smile of her own as her friend approached.
"Hey Joule."
"Misaka, are you okay?" Joule glanced back at the clique, some of whom were looking at her, a slight sparkle to their eyes. Misaki was watching then.
Her friend shook her head "I need a favour actually, can you break telepathic links?"
"I- In theory?" Joule offered "I've read about it but never actually done it."
"One of the people here tagged me." Misaka filled her in "But it's not something my barrier actually blocks."
Misaka's EM barrier blocked attempts to edit her mental state, her memories or anything deep like that. They didn't block messages or attempts to check if a mind was there.
Joule realised that if she wanted, she could get Misaka to let her in easily. All she'd have to say is "I'm going to need to go deeper than normal for that."
The loophole had two keys, though only one of them was needed to access it. Misaka's will was one key, in theory she could ask and Misaka would give it. But-
"Misaka." Joule said as she looked her friend in the eye "Do you trust me?"
"Of course." she answered but it looks like that question had worried her, she glanced behind her and the clique before making eye contact again.
No, that still wasn't enough. Not for Joule.
"Do you trust me to act with the best intentions?"
At this point Misaka knew something was wrong but she still answered "Joule, I- Yes. Yes, I trust you."
Joule closed her eyes and Misaka continued "Joule, what's wrong? Is it Shokuhou?"
She wasn't even thinking that Joule herself might be the threat, in her friend's mind she was looking for a monster that was forcing her friend to act strange. Joule's heart shook. If Misaka really wanted to, she had the ability to close off the loophole for good. If she did that though, that would be saying that Joule was a danger to her. She hadn't. Misaka really did trust her with this.
The young Adept took a breath.
She used the loophole. A small segment of a hummed song. A segment that would only work if Misaka could perceive Joule humming it and she was recognised by the gate. This wasn't something that Misaki could have used alone, even if she had recorded this humming somehow.
Misaka's eyes went wide as Joule forged the connection.
"I'm sorry. I hope you forgive me for this, someday."
Her friend's legs wobbled and she went to steady her. One of the other members of the clique, a girl with large curly rings of hair came over too and together they helped Misaka sit down.
Joule was fairly sure she needed to sit down too.
End of chapter.
I feel bad for my own characters.
Joule didn't want to hit Misaka with something like a sneak attack. If anything that made her feel worse though.
At least Misaka sitting out this arc gives me something fun to use in a future arc.