The last moves

[ACMI2: Incredible Power]

Uiharu kept an eye on the information she was getting. Saten was going to make it to the roof in a bit less than a minutes, the others though were more of a problem.

Gensei was taking the most direct route. As she had already locked the elevators, that meant he, the esper and the soldier were climbing the stairs.

Nokleben was further away though. Assuming Gensei took the fastest route from where he was, he'd actually reach them first. That meant that Uiharu needed to act to delay him as much as possible.

First thing of course;

"Stairway 3, collapse 2 through 5."

The steps shattered as a vibration of the perfect frequency was used to break them apart.

The trio had been climbing from the second to the third floor, with the floor falling out from under them, they themselves began to fall.

The esper reacted first, flinging out a tendril to catch the soldier and then a few more to stop their fall.

Gensei on the other hand had a different idea, he stepped upon the air itself and launched himself up to the fourth floor. He looked down at his two suspended helpers and commanded them "Keep going after the target. If you find a girl with the target, detain her, kill if you need to."

With that, he actually headed into the fourth floor. Uiharu was confused, was he just going to leave getting the Sister to his helpers, if he was...?

The fact that he'd basically ordered her capture or killed meant something.

She wasn't part of the original plan, so this was an improvised action. Why give specific orders though unless... he couldn't allow her to run free to spread information?"

Uiharu watched as the esper brought the soldier up the collapsed stairway. They'd be able to use their ability to negate many of the traps.

It was still confusing that the Esper could still understand their surroundings. Hadn't Uiharu destroyed the camera they were using to see? They had even heard Gensei's order.

Uiharu took a breath. She needed to make a choice now. Cut of Gensei while he was unguarded or stop the esper and soldier from coming closer.

...Protecting the sister came first. She didn't know what Gensei had gone to do but she knew his target was the sister.

She quickly told mr Nokleben what was happening via the radio but then moved back to defense.

At the higher floors there were more protections in place so when the duo reached the floor that she was on, Uiharu went into overdrive.

"Hallway 9 E, Restrict Wall."

Without Gensei to vanish them, these walls would be able to hold them off.

They were shut tightly in different segments. The Esper looked more annoyed than upset and destroyed the camera that could see her.

Uiharu paled, without that camera, she wouldn't know when or how the Esper escaped.

Nokleben was getting closer though, he was only one floor and a few hallways away now. All she needed to do was ensure that the Esper didn't get to her in the next... two minutes?

Hallway 9 E, Subsection 2, Magnet Wave."

It was entirely possible that whatever metal the Esper was using wasn't magnetic but this would at least fry any more electronics that they had on them.

Using gas would be pointless against a body of metal but-

Uiharu had missed something, she realised it at that moment, she'd forgotten to seal the vents.

She heard a rattling from the wall and froze up. She was here already?

[ACSRS: STUDY]

She stood up, slamming the laptop closed and running over to the Sister. Her eyes were open slightly, so she was awake at least.

Needing to prepare for the worst, she tried to grab the Sister but she was heavier than Uiharu had guessed. To be fair, Uiharu probably wouldn't have thought to try lifting Misaka before.

"Can you move yet?"

"No, says Misaka." Her voice was quiet "I don't think you'd be able to lift me, Misaka continues with a note of worry."

Well she didn't have to say it!

As Uiharu began to try to pull her onto her back, the vent at the top of the room was blasted away with force and the esper emerged from it into the room.

It was silent, it didn't speak, it just raised it's hand to Uiharu and made the Japanese sign language signs for "Put her down and step away."

Yes, Uiharu had taken the time to learn JSL. Kuroko knew a bit as well, but not much.

When Uiharu hesistated, the arm of the metal doll shifted into a blade. Uiharu obeyed the instruction then. Putting the sister down carefully and stepping away.

Now was the question of how they would try to restrain her. With a doll this complicated, the Esper was likely at least level 3 if not 4. That means they'd likely be able to control multiple streams at once if they'd weaken control of their doll slightly.

With no rope, the esper might try using some metal to bind her. If she did, Uiharu would have a moment to act when the doll wouldn't be able to react to her as well. By this point she'd figured out how the esper was still seeing.

The metal must be acting like a microphone. It "Heard" the air move as a form of echolocation, that also allowed it to hear Gensei's order. That sort of fine control required a lot of focus. In the moment that it went to bind her, the esper would be blind.

Hopefully. That was the plan at least.

The esper didn't go for that though. It reached into it's own belly and pulled out some tape before signing for Uiharu to turn around.

Oh.

Uiharu couldn't just say no. With a heavy heart she turned.

And now she was sure the esper wouldn't be able to read her face, she let a small grin show.

[ACMI2: Cross Speed]

The door burst open as Mr Nokleben charged in. The flashbang dropped from his hands as his glasses darkened.

True, the light wouldn't bother the esper but the very loud bang would.

Uiharu covered her ears.

As the Esper was disoriented, he grabbed the sister (Who had looked away from the grenade but had been deafened) and nodded to Uiharu.

She followed him out of the room as they ran for the last set of stairs up. Uiharu went first and burst through the door. She Sighed in relief when she saw Saten already up here and giving her a thumbs up.

The man passed the sister to the two of them and proceded to toss another grenade, one that definately wasn't a flashbang, down the stairway behind them. Not quite as good as making the stairs collapse but she did understand the lack of time.

Now it was just the three of them up here.

Please, let help reach them soon. She'd been contacted by GV when the attack had started and she gave them rough directions. She trusted him to get them out of this.

Down below on the ground floor, that was the moment that Misaka arrived.

End of chapter.

Looking back on it now, I should have made GV's texts a part of the chapters. I kept forgetting about it though until this moment.

The order of arrival is Uiharu's team Gensei's team Misaka and Kuroko Joule and Misaki Everyone else.