A quick trip to see a friend.

[ACMI2: Confusion]

All things considered, Joule wasn't happy when Lumen returned of the news.

A mysterious figure, likely working for the chuch, had somehow incapacitated GV.

"He's currently somewhere safe." Lumen told them "He managed to hide before it took full effect. He's in something like an induced coma, his brain isn't getting enough oxygen to remain conscious but it is getting enough to ensure he lives."

"We need to get him to the hospital." Joule's first instincts were spoken out loud "We need to help him, Lumen, why weren't you able to help?"

Lumen shook her head "There was something... I can't describe it properly but it felt like I couldn't get all my power together while I was that far away from you."

That wasn't meant to be possible. Lumen had been able to peform an Anthem for GV while he'd been over one hundred miles away from her in the past. This distance wasn't nearly that far.

"Some kind of interference?" Joule wondered, even as she spoke, Saten had come up with a better plan.

"Lumen, you told us there were soldiers about, right?"

"Right." Lumen confirmed "They were knocked out by GV though."

"Doesn't matter." Saten raised a finger "What are the chances that more would come? We can't just walk in there and get him. We will have to call Shirai now."

The matter had become dangerous enough that they were willing to interupt her work.

She nodded at Joule as she pulled out her phone "We'll go to the hosptial with him and see if we could get any information on what was happening. The doctor might know."

The frog-faced doctor? Yes, he was likely to know these sorts of things wasn't he.

Joule nodded as Saten dialed and put the phone to her ear.

There was a pause as Saten commented, worried "She's not picking- ah."

The phone stopped wringing and Saten put on speaker phone as Joule heard Uiharu's voice.

"Saten...?" She sounded scared.

"Uiharu, why are you answering Shirai's phone?"

"She passed out a few minutes ago." Uiharu said, the fear growing in her voice, "I think it might be related to-"

"The intruder, yes." Joule wanted to hurry. GV needed help after all "It's one of her spells."

Lumen couldn't talk directly over phone lines so Joule spoke for her, telling Uiharu about what had happened when GV had found her.

"And if Shirai is sleeping too, we don't have a way to get him to safety." Joule finished, her voice sounding as scared as Uiharu's had been.

For her part, Uiharu had calmed down. She had more information to work with now after all.

"Does Judgement have any other teleporters?" Saten tried.

"None that would be able to get to GV." Uiharu noted.

Joule took a breath and tried to work through the problem. People were out cold because of their brain not getting enough oxygen. In computer terms that would be something like a computer only having enough power to stay in sleep mode. There was nothing a purely software method could do to...

Except... maybe...

"We'll be there in a few minutes." Joule promised before turning "Get an ambulance." The rain was still coming down but they had a long way to go to reach the judgement office.

It took them grabbing a ride from said ambulance to reach the judgement office.

Joule asked the medics to wait before taking Shirai though. Joule needed her here for this.

Finally, she explained her plans to her allies while the medics waited for them to bring Shirai down.

"I can use one of my songs." Joule suggested "Shirai can still hear, I just checked her brainwaves. I link her up to my personal network and allow someone else to make use of her ability. For a short time, we'll recreate the feat that Miss Kiyama managed to do with the level upper network; I'm going to give one of you two access to Multi-skill."

[ACSR: Plot]

"Are you sure?" Neither of the others looked happy about this but-

"I've done it before. I'll use the same song I used during the incident with STUDY." The use of the song during her time with Misaki went unmentioned.

"STUDY?" Saten asked. Oh, that was right. Misaki had blurred those memories hadn't she?

"It's tested." Joule insisted "I can do it."

"But... isn't GV mostly safe right now?" Uiharu asked "Surely he'd be safe enough to stay there-"

"No!" Joule said, her voice raised more than she might have ever raised it before when talking with her friends. She shook her head, calming slightly.

"I'm not going to leave him there."

Both of her friends had bad experiences with level upper, that was true. But they had trusted her about this before. Why wouldn't they now?

Her eyes locked with Saten and there was a strange... something. A moment passed with everyone holding their breaths. As Joule let the breath out though, Saten did as well.

"All right. Fine." She accepted the task "I'll do it."

"Saten, are you sure?" Uiharu asked.

Saten nodded though "It's the easiest way to get through this. We'll get everyone somewhere safe."

Joule smiled and Lumen... Lumen looked concerned.

"What?" Joule asked her closest friend.

"Nothing..." Lumen spoke while averting her gaze "I just thought I saw something there... just for a moment."

Lumen didn't seem in a hurry to talk so Joule just moved on.

She took to her metaphoric stage and opened her mouth, drawing in air.

[ASG2: A Flash of Azure (Lumen Version)]

"The bronze high-rise… The lapis lazuli glass…"

Her power flowed out from her in a wave, drawing in her friends and the sleeping Shirai.

"All seems blue to me…"

She worked quickly, driving the metaphorical spike into Shirai's mind. She wouldn't be able to do any of the calculations for the teleportation while asleep though so Joule would need to do them instead. This was fine, it was just two transformations on 11-dimentional space, right? The formulas were in Shirai's head so all she had to do was apply them one by one.

Saten was all that would be teleporting at first.

Mass, volume, charge- all of the pieces that made Saten herself. All of them transformed into numbers in the calculation.

This was all Shirai's work, Joule wouldn't be able to do any of these calculations without her.

Lumen knew where GV was. Saten nodded that she was ready.

Joule "passed her" Shirai's power and the calculations that she'd already made. Lumen would rest inside her so she'd be carried along by the calculations. She'd need to account for GV's variables on the way back.

It was kind of amazing that Shirai could do these calculations in a fraction of a second. Even with her cheat-sheet, Joule was struggling.

Finally though, the calculations were done. They checked them over once more for safety.

Then-

"Go!"

Saten vanished. Joule continued to sing, forcing the connection between their minds into a more solid link. Something that wouldn't be broken by distance.

Through Saten's eyes, she saw them Collect GV. They applied the calculations again. It took another minute or so to calculate before they shifted back.

By this point, Joule and Saten were both exhausted.

When Joule's song stopped, the medics needed to bring four people into the ambulance.

End of chapter.

And Joule finally performs an entirely unique feat that would put her in the level 5s. Controlling another's ability is the kind of feat that AIM stalker could evolve into if it became level 5. The fact that Joule can do that and so much more...

Of course if you were paying attention, you'd see that she wasn't entirely doing all of this "alone." And I don't just mean Lumen.