As stated, I've begun working on Code Decade and Fate/Zero Requiem though it will be some time before new Chapters are released, both because I'm revisiting old chapters to give them a touch-up. As for what other fics i will be updating:

Currently Editing: Fate/Zero Requiem, Code Decade, Saiyan Muyo

Reboot/Re-write: Second chance, Naruto's Bizarre Adventure, Fake x Fate, Hokage no Issan, Reikai Sensei

New Chapters in progress: Eyes of Heaven, After Heaven: Remnants of Destiny, Bloodstained Arc, RWBYLOVANIA, Jump Force

To be Concluded: Dark Defense, Hunter's Moon, Sailor Moon GSL

Dead in the water: Naruto Gaiden, Cry of the Youko, Herwald von Einzbern, Geass Rider, Hina Digger, In the wake of Death, Vandread-O, Konoha Shinken, Oberon, Twin Foxes, Shun Goku WTF, Strange Bedfellows, Spirit Hunter Naruto

I'm honestly surprised at how well received this story has been, though I warn you updates will be far between due to prior responsibilities.

Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 5: July 19th

Level Upper.

"Looks like today's going to be another scorcher huh?" Mikoto mused, the Electromancer stretching in relief as she and Kuroko made their way down the street, classes having finished for the day. However, it seemed Kuroko had other things on her mind than the weather, if the wrinkles adorning her brow were any indication.

"Hey, what's with the face?" Mikoto asked, turning to regard the pigtailed teleporter in concern, as it was highly unusual for her to ignore her like that "You're looking super grouchy, did something happen at work?"

"Our department got chewed out for 'use of excessive force in apprehending the suspect'." Kuroko confessed with a grimace. "Standard bureaucratic politics of course, the higher-ups needed a scapegoat and just so happened to recall the instances you lost control whilst unofficially 'assisting' us."

"Aheheh…sorry about that…" Mikoto stammered, averting her eyes from Kuroko's deadpan glare as she scratched her cheek awkwardly, recalling all-too-well the instances Kuroko was talking about, some of them fairly recent now that she thought of it.

"It's not your fault, Onee-sama." The teleporter sighed, unable to remain truly upset with the object of her affections "I'm just annoyed that they'd pin all the blame on our division despite knowing full well none of us possess the kind of raw power needed to put someone in that condition in the first place."

"I thought they ruled he was injured trying to set off another explosion?" Mikoto pressed, having gleaned the basics of the report that morning "I mean, the only reason you found him was because you tracked his Graviton charge, right?"

"That's the only reason Konori-sempai and I aren't currently being raked over hot coals." Kuroko confessed dourly, arms crossed as she grumbled "The fact the idiot was carrying enough aluminium to level a city block pretty much cemented him as our culprit…which just doesn't make sense to me."

"What do you mean?" Mikoto wondered, tilting her head in confusion, wondering if they had missed something "You think the Aluminium was planted on him to throw us off the real Bomber's tracks?"

"No, we found his fingerprints all over the stuff and it was clear he'd been lugging them around in his bag all day." Kuroko assured her "We even found a receipt for them in his dorm-room from a local convenience store, and the Store Manager confirmed he purchased them himself."

"So case closed then." Mikoto reasoned, placing her arms behind her head as she stretched with a sigh "He bought the aluminium to use as fuel for his bombs and accidentally blew his ass up, so why the long face?"

"Because it just doesn't make any sense." Kuroko insisted waving a hand for emphasis "Don't get me wrong, all the evidence points to Kaitabi Hatsuya being the Bomber, but how can he be when he's officially registered as a Level-2?"

"Wait, are you serious?" Mikoto demanded, gaping at her roommate in disbelief "There's no way he's only a level-2! I was at ground zero when that last bomb went off, and I can tell you right now that was definitely the work of a Level-4 at least!"

"I'm not doubting you for a second Onee-sama. But no matter how I look at the data, nothing seems to add up." Kuroko assured her roommate with an exhausted sigh "To make matters worse, the only person who could've shed light on the situation is currently in critical condition, so even if we wanted to interrogate him, we couldn't."

Mikoto grimaced, finally understanding her roommate's dilemma. After all, real life wasn't like some police drama, a case wasn't simply closed just because they caught the bad guy, more often than not there were a dozen loose ends that needed to be tied-up before they could put the case to rest.

'I really don't envy Uiharu-san right now.' She mused, offering a silent prayer for the Flower-headed girl, only to blink as the memory of her conversation with Saten popped into her head 'Could it be…?'

"Hey, Kuroko, have you ever heard of [Level Upper?]" she asked, earning a confused look from her roommate "It's something Saten-san mentioned the other day…I can't remember the exact details but I think she said it involved raising your Ability Level."

"Another one of those Urban Legends?" Kuroko sighed, a conflicted expression forming on her face as she mulled over the information "Come to think of it, a lot of those rumours she's dug up as of late seem to have been true in some shape or form…"

'You don't know the half of it…' Mikoto chuckled, the memories of Touma cancelling out her attacks and Kiyama-sensei stripping in broad daylight flashing across her mind "You wanna meet up with her and compare notes? We can get some shaved ice while we're at it."

"I suppose we could use a break." Kuroko conceded with a sigh, though internally she was revelling at the opportunity to spend more time with her beloved. True, she'd have to share that time with Saten, but such minutia couldn't hope to sour her mood. Besides, if push came to shove it wasn't as if she didn't have several viable exit strategies lined up to ensure she and her onee-sama got some alone time.

Truly, Teleportation was such a useful skill.

"I should probably ask if those guys know something too." Mikoto mused, shattering Kuroko's NSFW fantasies as she pulled out her cell phone "They're technically seniors, so they might have heard something we haven't."

"Onee-sama…when did you get the contact details for those two?" Kuroko shakily demanded, her eyes widening at the implications "Don't tell me…you gave them your contact details as well?!"

"Uh, yeah, why wouldn't I?" Misaka confirmed with a quirked brow, the Electromancer eyeing the teleporter like she'd sprouted a second head "It'd be pretty hard to keep in contact if I didn't, right?"

'That's not the point!' Kuroko wailed, gripping the side of her head in frustration as Mikoto, heedless of her anguish, proceeded to text the details to the pair 'Why do you have to rely on those lower life-forms when you have me!?'

Meanwhile...

"-so in the end no-one was injured and the Bomber was apprehended shortly after." Touma recited, the unfortunate teen reading the news report off his phone "Anti-Skill suspect he must have attempted another bombing to cover his tracks, only for the explosion to backfire, leaving him in critical condition."

"Freaking dumbass probably pushed himself and forgot to carry the two." Itsuki quipped, referring to the calculations the more powerful Espers relied upon in order to use their powers "Seriously though, are you sure you're alright? That explosion looked bad enough from the outside."

"It wasn't exactly pleasant at ground zero either." Touma confessed, waving off the golden-eyed blonde's concerns with his right hand "Relax, I managed to negate most of the blast…" he clenched his fist with a frown "I just wish I'd gotten there before it went off."

"I'm sure the store's insurance can cover it." Itsuki scoffed, rolling his eyes as he clapped the spiky-haired teen on the shoulder "Seriously man, I know helping people is your thing, but sometimes you take things too far."

"It's not that." Touma sighed, scratching the back of his head irritably "It's just, if I'd been there to stop the bomb before it went off, then maybe Kana-chan wouldn't have gotten caught up in that mess."

Itsuki said nothing, his lips pursing in distaste at the memory of the child and Uiharu's recounting of the events leading up to the explosion. It turned out that the Bomber, Kaitabi Hatsuya, had approached Kana sometime after the alarm was raised and asked her to deliver the bomb, disguised in the shape of a knock-off Gekota, to Uiharu, having apparently been targeting Judgement Members the entire time.

Now, given how rough his own life had been, Kamijou Touma was a firm believer that there was good in everyone, that if given a chance anyone could turn their life around. But even Buddha could tolerate so much bullshit, and after witnessing Kaitabi's inexplicable murder-boner for Judgement, combined with his willingness to sacrifice an innocent child to achieve his goals, even the ever-optimistic Kamijou found himself wishing he'd been the one to corner the madman in the alley.

"Just put it out of your head for now man." Itsuki assured him, patting the spiky-haired teen on the shoulder "You said it yourself, everyone got out okay, and from what I've heard the Bomber will be having all of his future meals through a straw even after he's let out of hospital."

"I guess you're right." Touma sighed, his troubled expression slowly shifting into a tired smile as he fell into step with his enigmatic friend "Come to think of it, we never did manage to grab lunch did we?"

"Now you're speaking my language." Itsuki grinned, slapping the unfortunate Kamijou on the back as he pulled out a flyer "I hear Jona-Garden has a special Summer Selection Menu starting today, what say we head there to celebrate Summer break, my treat?"

"Did you forget I've got Make-up lessons?" Touma groused, internally weeping at the memory of Komoe-sensei cheerfully calling him a dummy, though despite that he did little to ward off the blonde's offer. Free food was free food after all "Besides, you don't need to cover for me, I can pay for my share."

"Think of it as a reward for saving people's lives." Itsuki countered, waving off his concerns "I mean, bad enough you let Lil Miss Bug Zapper get all the credit. If you'd just come forward they probably would've compensated you with something."

"I didn't do it for the money." Touma countered with a stern glare, as if morally insulted by the very idea "Like I explained the other day, I don't care about being rewarded; I just didn't want to see anyone else get hurt."

"And that, my friend, is all the more reason to let me treat you." Itsuki insisted with a grin "After all, if you're going to be throwing yourself into other people's messes, then the least you can do is ensure you do it on a full tank."

"There is that." Touma conceded with a weary smile, recalling the countless times he'd been forced to abandon a good meal simply because he couldn't sit back and ignore people in trouble "And since you're paying, maybe I'll actually manage to taste some of it before things go south."

"Don't jinx us man." Itsuki warned, jostling the unlucky teen with his elbow as they made their way down the street towards the restaurant only to pause with a sigh as his phone went off "Well now, speak of the devil…wonder what she wants?"

Several Minutes Later...

"A device that helps raise your Ability Level?" Touma repeated, his expression one of bored disbelief as he idly munched away at his strawberry sundae "You don't really believe something so convenient exists?"

"Look who's talking mister [Living Urban Legend]." Mikoto quipped, smirking as the elder teen flushed and averted his gaze in embarrassment, only to grimace in the face of my own knowing smirk. Needless to say, when the Railgun called us out of the blue and asked to meet up at an ice-cream stand, I honestly didn't know what to expect.

On the one hand, I was kind of impressed she was making the first move, since the eternally dense Kamijou wouldn't know what to do with a girl if she gave him a naked lap-dance. On the other hand, the idea of my accident prone friend dating a Rich Tsundere Middle-Schooler raised all sorts of red flags, and that wasn't even taking her Level-5 status into account.

Thankfully, the issue was rendered moot when, after meeting up with Saten at the ice-cream stand, the Railgun proposed we move our little gathering to Uiharu's apartment, both to check up on the sickly flower-girl and share intel, thus completely negating the possibility of rom-com shenanigans.

And if you believed that last sentence for even a second, I have some property on Mars that might interest you. Roach Free Naturally.

'Is this what it's like to be a side-character in a Light Novel?' I wondered, looking on with morbid fascination as Touma & Mikoto continued to egg each other on to the amusement of Saten, awe of Uiharu and frustration of Kuroko, who was admirably failing to melt Touma with her glare.

"The whole thing smells fishy if you ask me." I opined, both to spare Touma further embarrassment and get the conversation back on track "There's no way something that convenient exists without a downside, otherwise everyone and their grandmother would be abusing the hell out of it."

"He's got a point." Kuroko concurred, still glowering heatedly at Touma "More than likely it's still in the experimental stages and they haven't entirely worked all the potential bugs out yet."

"That would explain why there are so many conflicting accounts." Uiharu coughed, the poor girl tenderly savouring her own plain ice-cream "Whoever developed the program probably did so covertly and has to rely on the information they can gather by leaking it on various sites to avoid alerting the authorities."

"There has been a rather large influx of incidents caused by people whose Abilities outranked their official records." Kuroko conceded recalling several previous cases her branch of Judgement had resolved within the past few weeks "If we could just find a way to connect them all…"

"How about checking their browser history?" Saten proposed, holding up a finger for emphasis "It might be a long shot, but I've come across several people claiming to have used Level Upper posting on a specific Message Board."

"Wait a minute. Does Judgement even have the authority to check people's internet history without their permission?" Touma demanded, only to blink as I placed a hand on his shoulder, nodding my head towards a flushed Uiharu, who chuckled nervously from behind her laptop screen.

"I'd tell you to erase your browser history when you get home, but luckily you can't afford a laptop." I quipped, earning a glare from the unfortunate Kamijou as he swatted my hand away "I'd still wipe your phone history just to be safe. No telling what Tsuchimikado or Aogami have snuck on there when you weren't looking."

"I haven't been watching anything weird." Touma grumbled, though he did make a point of checking his phone to be safe, as it would be just like those two to slip some NSFW videos onto it on the off-chance a girl got her hands on Touma's phone "Such Misfortune…"

"So what exactly is our game plan if we find these guys?" I asked, drawing Mikoto and Kuroko's attention away from Touma while Saten helped Uiharu find the Level Upper browser page "Not like we can just walk up to them and ask if they're using an illegal program to up their levels."

"I was thinking we could pull a sting operation." Mikoto proposed, earning an exasperated sigh from Kuroko and a quirked brow from Touma "My plan was to act like I stumbled across the browser page while looking for means to up my level and sought them out to see if they could get me a copy."

"Not dressed like that you're not." I quipped, only to shake my head at her look of confusion "You really aren't aware of your situation, are you?" I sighed at her naivete "Don't get me wrong, it's a decent enough idea, but anyone with a working brain cell would recognize your uniform a mile away."

"He's right, Onee-sama." Kuroko concurred with a nod, though I suspected she simply didn't want Mikoto involving herself directly in the investigation "And even if they aren't aware of the entry-requirements for Tokiwadai, you don't carry yourself like someone desperate to raise their Level."

"Guess there's disadvantages to being confident in your abilities, huh." I quipped, earning a flush from the pouting Railgun as she averted her gaze "We can probably rule out Shirai too. If these guys really are selling Level Upper, they probably familiarized themselves with the local Judgement members."

"So Konori-sempai is out as well." Kuroko grimaced as she bit her thumbnail, as the bespectacled Judgment Member's Clairvoyance would've definitely come in handy. The group fell into silent contemplation for a moment, only to look up at Saten's cry.

"Ah! There it is!" the Level-0 excitedly confirmed, leaning over Uiharu's shoulder to point at the browser displayed on the flower-girl's laptop screen despite the latter's discomfort "That's the site I saw the posting!"

"Nicely done." Kuroko applauded, the teleporter accepting the laptop from Saten as we crowded around the kotatsu to get a better look "Now, if only we could determine their identities and where they hang out."

"I already took care of that." Uiharu coughed, gesturing for Saten to scroll down further "For whatever reason, most of them seem to be using their real names to post on the site, so it was easy enough to look them up."

"Typical newbies…" Kuroko sighed, her brow furrowing as she pulled up the details "As I thought, most of these guys have been brought up on multiple counts of misconduct, but nothing ever really came out of it since they little better than Skill-Outs."

"Hey, is this some kind of joke?" Touma chuckled, drawing looks of confusion from the girls as he pointed at the location of their hangout "Isn't that the restaurant we were going to hit up earlier?"

"Huh, you're right." I confirmed, blinking at the address in disbelief "Talk about your weird coincidences." I mused with a wry smirk at the spiky-haired teen "Looks like your bad luck strikes again."

"So we have our location," Mikoto declared, ignoring Touma's bemoaning his misfortune as best she could, the Electromancer punching her fist into her palm as she glanced down at the computer screen "All we need now is a plan of attack."

"I could do it." Saten proposed, drawing everyone's attention to the Level-0 "My school's nothing special, so they shouldn't get suspicious about me." She flexed a muscle "Heck, I wouldn't even need to act, I really am desperate to find a way to raise my ability level, and I've got enough of an online presence that they'd probably believe me when I say I stumbled onto their browser by chance."

"Out of the question!" Kuroko countered, slapping her palm on the kotatsu "It's bad enough Onee-sama keeps getting herself in trouble, but at least she can protect herself if things go south! Even if these guys are just blowing smoke about Level Upper, there's no way I'd send a civilian in on their own!"

"Who said anything about her going in alone?" Touma countered, earning looks of surprise from the girls and a sharp look from me "Itsuki and I were planning to go there for a meal anyway, so how's about the four of us head in first to scope out the area under the guise of a meet up. That way you can provide a believable excuse for Saten-san to bail if things turn south."

"Works for me." Mikoto confessed, earning a concerned look from Kuroko, who seemed to be torn at the idea of going on what was essentially a double date with her Onee-sama and two men "What time do they usually meet up?"

One hot meal later...

"The food here's pretty damn good." Touma marvelled, digging into his Bitter Escargot Lasagne From Hell (seriously, what the f-?!) with a contemplative expression "I guess there's something to be said for food science."

"If you say so." Mikoto mused, the Railgun not really paying much attention to her food, instead sending nervous glances over her shoulder at Saten, who was busy chatting up some of the hooligans that Kuroko had identified from the webpage, the rest of their gang having gone to the bathroom.

'Seriously? What kind of hooligans takes a piss in groups anymore?' Touma wondered as he savoured his meal 'Are they that paranoid about being jumped? Or are they all secretly spoiled rich girls inside?'

"Seems to be going well." Itsuki mused around mouthfuls of what had to be the biggest damn burger any of them had ever seen. No seriously, how the hell he could even take a bite of the damn thing without cutting it into pieces eluded the other teens "Say what you like, the girl has the gift of gab."

"Just so long as talking is all they do." Mikoto growled, her eyes narrowing as she caught the way some of the creeps were eyeing Saten like she was a piece of meat, the occasional spark from her hair indicative of how tense she was.

"Relax, we got her back if they try anything." Itsuki assured the Electromancer, though his expression was similarly dark as he levelled a disgusted glare at the thugs over the summit of Mount Heart-Attack on a Bun "Just get ready to pull her out if things turn south."

"Might have to do that sooner than expected." Kuroko hissed, the pigtailed teleporter nodding towards the restroom as the rest of the thugs piled out, only to blink as Mikoto surged to her feet "Onee-sama! Don't do anything rash!"

"I'm just pulling her out, don't worry." Mikoto assured her friend, the Electromancer masking her concern with a bright smile as she skipped over to the suddenly wary Saten and hugged her from behind. "Hey there Sat-chan!" the Level-5 chirped, the sheer contrast between her normal mannerisms and this cheery persona so vast that Kuroko couldn't help but faceplant the table while Touma proceeded to choke on his food "Fancy running into you here!"

"A-ah, hey there, Misaka." Saten stammered, likewise thrown for a loop by the level-5's actions, though she quickly regained her composure, immediately reassured by her presence "I was just chatting with some of my web-buddies, turns out we visit a lot of the same sites, isn't that cool?"

"Totally!" Mikoto exclaimed, laying it on extra thick so the thugs didn't suspect she was anything other than a vapid middle-schooler "So they're into all that urban legend stuff you were talking about too?"

"Oh yeah, they're real pros." Saten nodded, no doubt hoping to bolster the thugs egos to lower their guards even further "Heck, they even said they could hook me up with that study aid I was talking about!"

"Eh?! You mean that miracle program that can help you raise your level overnight?!" Misaka exclaimed, earning panicked hisses from the thugs as they urged her to keep it down "Lucky! How much are they asking for it! I just got my allowance and I need to up my scores before the next exam!"

"Hook line and sinker." Itsuki chuckled, looking on in amusement as the thugs, baited by the mention of her allowance, finally registered the Tokiwadai Uniform Mikoto was wearing, their eyes practically morphing into Yen signs as they rose to their feet "Maybe we should've opened with that."

"I'd rather die than see One-sama debase herself like that any longer." Kuroko croaked with a haunted expression on her face, a sentiment apparently shared by Touma as he shoveled what was left of his lasagna into his mouth "Looks like they're on the move, shall we follow?"

"Touma and I will go on ahead." Itsuki offered, placing some bills on the table to cover his & Touma's share "You pay the bill and call Judgement for back-up, tell them several thugs tried to jump a Level-5 and require Medical Attention."

"Hey wai-!"

…thuuUUUUUM!

tock tick tock TICK TOCK TICKTOCKTICKTOCK!

"-t!" Kuroko exclaimed, only to blink as the target of her protests vanished from the table, leaving her with the bill and several thousand yen notes "Teleportation?" she wondered, blinking at the empty chair in confusion even as the waitress sidled over to see if she needed anything else "But that can't be right, according to his official record, Kawasumi Itsuki's power should be [Accuracy]!"

With Misaka and Saten...

"Okay then, this should be far enough." The lead thug mused, having lead the girls out of the restaurant and down a series of alleys in order to ensure there'd be no funny business or good Samaritans interfering "There's no-one who can interfere with us out here."

'Wow, he's not even trying to hide the fact he's trying to shake us down.' Misaka deadpanned, the Railgun struggling to keep her vapid mask in place while Saten struggled not to laugh at how screwed the thugs were "Great! So is this where you guys keep the training aide?"

"Hold up there girlie." The leader smirked as he tried to loom over them "First of all, why don't you start by giving us all the cash you got on ya? Don't forget your Credit and Debit cards and pin number too. I'm sure a rich little Tokiwadai princess like you has a few on her at all times, right?"

"And don't go getting any funny ideas." A large balding giant of a thug chuckled as he made to place his hand on Saten's head "After all, you wouldn't want your friend to get hurt, right?"

"Wow, that is just a stereotypical villain thing to say right there." Itsuki mocked, the thugs whipping round to see the blonde leaning casually against the wall behind them, hands in his pockets "What's next, you gonna threaten to strip-search her? Maybe pull her hair?"

"Who the hell is this little shit?" the lead thug demanded, strutting up to the blonde and grabbing him by the collar of his shirt "You got a lotta balls talking to me like that…any last words punk?"

Whatever Itsuki said or did next, Misaka wasn't close enough to hear, but whatever it was, the effect it had on the thug was nigh instantaneous. One second the man had been threatening the blonde, the next he was flying over their heads, landing head first in a pile of garbage at the mouth of the alley.

"Junta!" the balding bruiser yelped, rushing over to check on his leader, only to grimace at the sight of his battered form, looking for all the world like he'd gone ten rounds with an MMA Champ "You piece of shit-!" he began, only to trail off at the sight of his pals collapsed on the ground "What the hell?!"

"I could have handled that." Mikoto insisted, pouting at Itsuki with her hands on her hips and electricity sparking from her bangs as she stood in the middle of the downed, paralyzed thugs "How'd you do that anyway?"

"Trade secret." Itsuki chuckled, waving off her irate pout as he turned to face the suddenly nervous bald thug "Right then, now that we've established the pecking order, why don't you tell us everything you know about Level Upper?"

"S-Screw you!" the bald thug yelped, turning on his heel and making to run off, only to blink as he promptly slammed face first into the wall of the alley, despite having a clear path to freedom not seconds earlier.

"Whoa there, you gotta be more careful." Itsuki mockingly warned the larger man as he flailed on the ground, holding his broken nose "Running around in the dark like that, you could really hurt yourself."

"Fuck you!" the baldy snarled, lashing out with a ham-sized fist at the blonde's face, only to howl as he once again somehow found himself facing the wall of the alley, resulting in him shattering his knuckles against the brickwork "F-Fuck! Dammit!"

"There really is no need for all this violence." Itsuki persisted, leaning confidently against the wall as he peered down at the now whimpering older man "Just tell us everything you have on Level Upper and you're free to go."

"I don't know anything!" the massive baldy whimpered, raising his hands defensively as Mikoto sparked in warning "I'm telling ya the truth! Junta got the program off the Boss and passed it around so we could boost our fighting strength to deal with those Skill-Out gangs that have been moving on our turf!"

"Now then was that so hard?" Itsuki demanded, the chill of his smile sending shivers down the girls' spines as he knelt down to pat the man on the cheek patronizingly "So where is this 'boss' of yours? Since Junta called this little get together, I'm guessing they weren't at the restaurant."

"Correction, I showed up late to the meeting only to learn my boys had apparently decided to have some fun without me." An unfamiliar female voice called out, the group pausing to turn their attention to the tall, tracksuit sporting brunet that was slowly making her way towards them "Sure enough, I find they've bitten off than they can chew."

"Boss!" Baldy exclaimed, struggling to his feet and scampering towards his apparent saviour, only to let out a squeal of distress as she casually bitch-slapped him into a wall like a racquet ball "Why?!"

"You know damn well why!" the suddenly irate brunette exclaimed as she delivered several kicks to the poor bastard's prone form "Seriously, I take my eyes off you punks for a second and you're shaking people down for cash?" she demanded, glaring at the rest of the gang as they slowly came to their senses "What part of keeping a low profile don't you understand?!"

"Should we…do something?" Saten wondered, a part of her feeling honestly sorry for the poor bastards that were currently cowering before the irate woman as she gave them each a personal dressing down.

"And miss out on free entertainment?" Itsuki scoffed, earning an exasperated sigh from Misaka as the thugs lined up and bowed towards them in apology "So I take it you're the one in charge around here?"

"More or less." The woman confirmed, hands in the pockets of her tracksuit as she rose to her feet, the rest of her gang slinking off into the night "I usually keep 'em from causing too much trouble, but they've been a little antsy lately, what with all the Skill-Out attacks."

"Understandable." Itsuki conceded calmly even as he subtly gestured for Mikoto to be on guard "I assume that's the reason you decided to seek out Level Upper? To even the odds a little?"

"That'd be telling, and talk is cheap." The boss mused, a coy smirk adorning her lips as she popped her neck joints "See, while I can hardly fault you for putting my boys in their place, you went a little overboard with Junta."

'A little?' Saten repeated, a bead of sweat sliding down her head as she glanced over at the thugs as they hauled their comrade out of the garbage, wincing at the sight of his battered features 'He looks like raw hamburger!'

"As bright as you are, I'm sure you can see what I'm getting at." The boss mused, a confident smirk adorning her lips as she entered a fighting pose "You want me to spill the beans about Level Upper? You're going to have to make me talk."

"Gimme a break…" Itsuki sighed, running his fingers through his hair even as Mikoto moved into a ready stance, sparks forming on her hair "Goddamn anime clichés...you really wanna do this?"

"Reputation is everything on the streets." the Boss replied with a smirk "If word gets out I let you shake down my crew without a fight, it'd be like blood in the water for everyone looking to move in on our turf." she smirked "Besides, something tells me you can handle a little tough love."

"Afraid masochism isn't my kink." Itsuki scoffed, smirking at the woman even as an arm wrapped around her neck from behind "Now if you're looking for someone who gets off on getting their ass kicked, i'm sure my buddy behind you would be more than happy to be your dance partner."

"Could you please not make me sound like some sort of deviant?" Touma sighed, the closet-masochist Kamijou locking the shocked woman's arm behind her back whilst keeping her in a chokehold, the Boss's eyes widening in alarm once she realised her power wasn't working "Seriously, such misfortune..."

Just to be clear, Misaka could have handled this all by herself, but in this timeline she has more people to rely on.

And thus, the Level-Upper arc begins. And it's around here things begin to deviate slightly from canon.