Long time no see everyone.
Hope you all had a more productive few months than I did. Still jobless and maiden-less for the time being, though the last one is losing more importance as I realise the inherent value of being an eternal bachelor...you know, aside from becoming a functional wizard.
With all that out of the way, let's see what fresh Hell Touma has gotten himself into this time.
Chapter 14: July 24th
A Certain Failed Experiment
"Wait a second, are you telling me Doctor Kiyama just abducted Touma?" Mikoto demanded, the Railgun gaping at Itsuki in understandable disbelief alongside the two members of Judgement "And they just let her walk out the door with him?"
"To be fair, Onee-sama, they wouldn't really have any reason to stop her." Kuroko pointed out with a troubled expression "She is, after all, one of the most respected Cerebral Physiologists in Academy City."
"Except even I know that a hospital transfer requires a butt-load of red-tape." Itsuki pointed out with a growl "They wouldn't just let her walk out the door with him like that, she would've needed to have the paperwork filled out in advance."
"Which begs the question: Why would she go to the effort of having Touma transferred to her lab in the first place?" Mikoto pressed, biting her thumbnail in concern "I mean, even if she claims it's for his mental health, the hospital has psychologists for that."
"It gets worse I'm afraid." Uiharu confessed as her fingers blurred over the keyboard "I just accessed the Hospital Records, there's no official record of a transfer order for Kamijou-san. If anything, aside from his parents and Itsuki-san, nobody should have access to him without the Director's permission."
"And the only reason I'm on that list is because I'm one of his few emergency contacts in Academy City." Itsuki added grimly, having earned that position due to the sheer number of times he'd escorted Touma to hospital "And since Doc-Frog felt the need to let me know, I think it's safe to assume he didn't' authorize Touma's transfer to Kiyama's custody."
"Which means we can charge her with kidnapping at the very least, even if it turns out she wasn't involved in Level-Upper's development." Kuroko noted, even as she sweat dropped at the blonde's nickname for the Director "That's more than enough reason for Anti-Skill to get involved."
"But it just doesn't make any sense!" Mikoto insisted, gripping the side of her head in frustration as she tried to figure out what the Stripping Professor was thinking "I mean, what possible use could she have for kidnapping that idiot? Do you think she suspected we were onto her?"
"Doubtful." Itsuki countered with a scoff "Up until now she's given us no reason to suspect she has nothing but the best interests for the Coma victims at heart. You literally only began to suspect her after I voiced my own paranoia, so unless she's got this office bugged, I doubt she knows we're onto her."
"Which would be be impossible." Kuroko quickly assured her roommate "Setting aside Onee-sama, our state-of-the-art security system prevents anyone from just walking through the front door as they please." Mikoto chuckled weakly at the silent admonishment, earning a long-suffering sigh from her friend.
"Not only that" the teleporter continued "but due to the nature of our work, all Judgement Facilities undergo regular security checks. If there's so much as a hint of outside interference, the whole building is put on lockdown until we can remove the issue."
"And a Degree in Cerebral Physiology does not a hacker make." Itsuki begrudgingly conceded as he leant back against his chair "Ok, so we've established Kiyama doesn't realize we're onto her. That still doesn't explain why the hell she'd kidnap Touma?"
"Could it be we're simply blowing things out of proportion?" Uiharu suggested hesitantly, drawing the attention of the others to her again "I mean, okay, it's clear she didn't go through the proper channels to do so, but what if she needs Kamijou-san's help with the Level-Upper and couldn't afford to wait?"
"Uiharu…" Kuroko sighed "It's not that I don't see where you're coming from, but that's highly unlikely. For starters, the victims' lives aren't in any immediate danger. For another, the Level Upper affects their brains using technology, so Kamijou Touma's ability would be useless against it."
'True, it'd be an entirely different matter if Shokuhou was involved." Misaka mused, shivering at the mention of her so-called 'Rival', the current undisputed 'Queen' of Tokiwadai and arguably the most powerful Telepath in Academy City 'Considering he can even block Wide Range Telepathy…wait…'
"What if his hand can affect the patients?" she proposed hesitantly, ignoring the Judgement members in favor of turning to look at Itsuki "You remember when we bumped into Gekota-sensei when we were visiting Touma earlier?"
"I'm pretty sure that's not the Doc's name but yeah." Itsuki sweat-dropped, Kuroko shaking her head in exasperation while Uiharu blinked in confusion "He showed us something he uncovered in the Coma victims…something about their brainwaves?"
A Certain Hospital Director's Office, Earlier that day...
"What we're currently looking at are the brainwave patterns of all the current Level-Upper victims." The Hospital Director explained, having escorted Mikoto and Itsuki to his office for the presentation "Now as I'm sure you're aware, brainwaves normally vary from person to person, so the waveforms should all be quite different across the board, right?"
"Makes sense, even Identical twins don't think precisely the same way." Itsuki reasoned, sweat dropping as a giggling Mikoto tried to sneakily take a picture of the Director for some reason "I'm guessing that isn't the case with the coma victims?"
"Got it in one." The Director confirmed, his fingers blurring across his keyboard as he brought up a new diagram for us to see "While each victim's brainwave patters are, for the most part, unique, I noticed a recurring pattern that doesn't seem to match up with their normal flow."
"And you're saying all the Level-Upper victims have displayed this pattern at least sometime prior to being taken into custody?" Mikoto enquired, intrigued by the very notion even as she tucked her phone back into the pocket of her school skirt "How's that even possible?"
"I can't say for certain, but I believe it's safe to assume that this is the work of whoever created the Level-Upper." The Doc proposed "After all, if it's possible for them to enhance a person's Ability Level, then altering their brainwaves in order to control the body's responses shouldn't be all that hard."
A Certain Judgement Office, now...
"So, the creator is using Level-Upper to put the users into comas by altering their brainwaves to match a specific pattern?" Kuroko repeated, frowning in thought as she tried to process this information "I don't suppose you obtained a copy of that pattern?"
"Even if they didn't, it won't take me a minute to access the hospital's database." Uiharu assured the pigtailed teleporter, the flower-girl's fingers blurring across her keyboard "I can then cross-reference the pattern with the Central Databank to determine who the original pattern belongs to."
"That's our Uiharu." Kuroko boasted, the pigtailed teleporter puffing out her (non-existent) chest with pride, as if she were the one doing all the work "We should have their information in no-time!"
"Good luck with that." Itsuki grunted, the blonde rising from his seat as he pulled out his phone "I'm going to go have a word with Doc Frog," he announced to the girls, already dialling in the number "maybe he can figure out where Kiyama's taking Touma."
"I still don't understand how Kiyama fits into all this." Mikoto pressed, her expression troubled "If she really does have the best intentions, I can let her involvement slide," her hair sparked, startling Uiharu "but if it turns out she was playing us…"
"Then you'd best get in line." Itsuki warned the Railgun, his features shadowed by a [menacing] aura that sent shivers down Kuroko's spine as he waited for his call to connect "Course, good intentions or not, I might still sock her one for getting Touma involved."
"Voicing your plan to assault someone in a Judgement Office?" a familiar voice coyly enquired, the group turning just in time to see Konori Mii, Kuroko and Uiharu's Superior, enter the office "Not exactly the brightest of ideas, Kawasumi-kun."
"He's not serious, Konori-senpai." Kuroko assured her bespectacled senior with a weak chuckle whilst glaring pointedly at Itsuki "After all, he knows all-too-well how much paperwork we'd have to suffer through if a suspect was unnecessarily injured."
Itsuki scoffed, and for a moment it looked like he was about to respond only for his phone to finally connect, distracting the blonde "Hey Doc. Listen, did Kiyama happen to mention anything about where she might be taking Touma when she checked out with him?"
"That's what I was trying to tell you before you hung up." The Director gently chastised over the loudspeaker, prompting a sheepish look from the blonde "I know exactly where she's going. I was actually just about to head over there myself if you'd like to tag along."
"Going a bit above and beyond the call of duty aren't ya, doc?" Itsuki marvelled, the girls looking at one another in amazement at the man's willingness to get involved "I mean, I get she probably stepped on your toes by sneaking Touma out without your consent, but you sure you wanna take her on yourself?"
"While I'll confess to some mild irritation at her impatience, I can assure you Kiyama-kun has a good reason for using said methods." The Director calmly assured them "I'm sending you over the address now. It's a small hospital in the third ward, so please try to avoid making a scene."
"No promises." Itsuki quipped, frowning as he cancelled the call so that the director could send over the co-ordinates, texting them over to Kuroko and Misaka once they arrived 'Weird…' he mused, glancing down at the phone in concern 'It almost sounded like he was expecting this to happen…'
"Any luck with that sample, Uiharu?" Kuroko demanded as she finished updated the Anti-Skill team dispatched to take Kiyama into protective custody, stressing she was to be brought in unharmed.
"Nothing yet." The flower-girl apologized, her fingers a literal blur as she glanced over the mass of information on-screen "Though to be fair, this is a load to take in. I mean, assuming Kiyama-sensei is involved, how was she able to develop Level-Upper in the first place?"
"And for that matter, how the heck can it raise an Esper's Ability Level?" Kuroko demanded petulantly "I mean, rewiring the brain via sound-waves I can understand, the Testaments do something similar, but even they can only record the changes, not influence growth."
"Well, that's only to be expected." Konori assured the pigtailed girl "After all, there's a limit to what machines can do. Even with the most advanced software, there's no guarantee that you can get the same results across all systems unless you connect them to a network."
"What, like how hooking up a bunch of different computers to an intranet can combine their processing power?" Itsuki queried, earning a nod of approval from the bespectacled senior "Wait, you don't think Kiyama found a way to link people's brains together?"
"It makes sense if you think about it." Mikoto proposed, though even she seemed just as stunned by the revelation "I mean, we already know that the Level Upper is forcibly altering the victims' brainwaves to match a specific pattern, what if that pattern is what allows them to access the 'Network'?"
"As for how she's doing it…My proposal would be the [AIM Diffusion Fields]." Konori opined, holding up a finger for emphasis "Not only is Kiyama-sensei an expert in the field, since Espers emit them subconsciously, falling into a Coma wouldn't deactivate them."
"And once they're all linked up, it would allow anyone connected to the network to boost their processing power." Kuroko noted with a sigh "Good grief, given what we've seen, if you were to connect enough Espers using the Network, you could probably turn a Skill-out into a Level 5 eventually."
"None of which answers why she felt the need to kidnap Touma." Itsuki reminded them "Even if Imagine Breaker can interfere with AIM fields, he'd need to physically come into contact with the coma patients and last I checked they weren't even in the same hospital."
"Just another thing we'll have to ask her when we get there." Mikoto proposed as she got to her feet, the Railgun smiling confidently at Kuroko as she cracked her knuckles in preparation for a fight "You memorized the location, right?"
"Of course! Though we'll have to take several jumps to get there from here." The teleporter confessed, beaming as her crush placed a hand on her shoulder, only to grimace as Itsuki clapped a hand on the other, the trio vanishing with a burst of air, leaving Konori and Uiharu to finish gathering the data.
A Certain Private Hospital...
"Is this the place you wanted me to see?" Touma wondered, blinking around at his surroundings in bemused wonderment, a part of him honestly intrigued by the environment despite the awkwardness of his current situation.
"Indeed." Doctor Kiyama confirmed, her tired expression giving way to a small smile as she watched him gape at his surroundings like a new-born chick "To be more specific, I want you to help me with some old students of mine. They're a bit of a handful, but they're good kids."
"Uh, sure, I don't mind helping out." Touma blinked, honestly a little confused by the woman's request, but then again he didn't see any reason to think she was up to anything "So long as you don't ask me to tutor them or grade their paperwork."
Dead silence was the only response to his admittedly weak joke, but rather than annoyance, the ever-stunned Kamijou found himself blinking as the sliding doors opened to reveal a sealed-off room with several small figures lying asleep on hospital beds.
"These are my students." Doctor Kiyama introduced, snapping the shocked Kamijou back to reality, the tired-looking Doctor smiling softly at the slumbering kids, though the look in her eyes was one of anguish "They've been like this for some time now. No matter what we try, they just won't wake up."
"That's…" Touma trailed off, honestly unsure with how to proceed. On the one hand, it was awful that these kids had clearly been forced into comas. On the other hand, it was clear that Doctor Kiyama blamed herself for their condition "What happened to them?"
"Kihara Gensei." A familiar voice answered, the pair turning to see the Hospital Director step into the room through a back door "To be more precise, they're victims of Kihara Gensei's attempt at recreating his [Crystalized Esper Essence]."
"Director…" Kiyama greeted, a hint of shame in her tone as she turned to face the man despite the determined look in her tired eyes "I suppose I should have expected you to get involved…"
"I've been involved from the beginning, Kiyama-kun." The Director reminded the woman with a patient smile, "If anything, I'm a little hurt that you'd go over my head like this. If you'd simply asked, I'd have happily introduced you to Kamijou-kun once he was cleared to leave."
"I…couldn't afford to wait that long." Kiyama confessed, gripping her arm awkwardly as she looked aside in shame "Believe me, I'm grateful for everything you've done. It allowed me to focus on my research without having to fear someone taking advantage of them."
"And just what was this research?" another voice demanded, Touma's eyes widening as the door behind them opened to admit a scowling Itsuki and Mikoto accompanied by a pigtailed girl he'd never seen who was tugging on a green armband "Depending on your response, Judgement may take action."
"I can assure you, miss, that Kiyama-kun has every intention of co-operating with the proper authorities." The Director assured the girl, sending a stern look the woman's way, prompting her to sigh.
"If this is about my involvement in the Level-Upper incident then rest assured, I fully intend to turn myself over to the authorities later." Kiyama assured the girl, not even remotely intimidated by the glare Mikoto sent her way as she sent a pointed look the Director's way "Though I must confess, had I known about this young Man's ability earlier, I never would have bothered with it in the first place."
"You know very well that Patient Confidentiality is my watchword." The Director reminded her with a hint of reproach "Besides, are you really one to be pointing fingers, given the nature of your research?"
"Yeah, about that." Itsuki cut in, glaring menacingly as he gestured at the slumbering kids "Care to explain doc? Last I checked all the Level-Upper cases were accounted for…these kids your prototypes?"
"Of course not." Kiyama sighed, the grief in her eyes palpable as she gazed at the slumbering children through the glass "Though I will confess to being at least partially responsible for their condition…It all began when I was studying under Professor [Kihara Gensei]..."
Anti-Skill Headquarters...
"And you're certain of this address?" Tessou Tsuzuri insisted, the bespectacled Anti-Skill officer jotting down the information with her free hand as she handled the call from a Judgement Branch "Wait, the Hospital Director himself gave it to you? How did he get involved in all this?"
"Like I said, one of his personal patients was abducted by a woman we believe to be involved with the Level Upper Case." Judgement Officer Konori Mii calmly repeated "A Judgement representative is en route per his request, but I'd feel a lot better if she had back-up."
'Wouldn't we all?' Tsuzuri mused, shaking her head at the memory of the numerous times she and her partner had gotten in way deeper than their paygrade covered only to make it out by the skin of their teeth "Rest assured, we'll have a team dispatched within a matter of minutes, just tell her to keep safe and avoid provoking the target."
"I'll do just that, but you needn't worry. This isn't Shirai's first rodeo." Konori confidently assured the older woman, "Though you might want to step on it, Tokiwadai's Railgun decided to tag along."
"Because of course she did." Tsuzuri groaned, facepalming at the very thought of the paperwork she'd have to fill out to cover the logistic nightmare that was a Level-5 playing at Vigilante "We'll get right on it, just tell them not to go crazy."
"No promises." Konori responded, her sympathy palpable as she hung up, leaving Tsuzuri to take a moment to gather her wits before turning to look for her partner, figuring the sooner they got this sorted the better.
'Like ripping off a bandage…' she grimaced, as she'd always hated doing that as a kid, and considering how overworked they were she could already imagine how well Yomikawa was likely to take the news.
"Hey, Aiho." She called out, waving to her partner, who was likewise finishing up a call at her desk, though judging by the veritable storm cloud over her head, it was likely it wasn't a social one "A Judgement agent just called in a kidnapping case, said it might be tied to this Level-Upper incident."
"Those kids have certainly been burning the midnight oil." Yomikawa mused, torn between pride at the students' sense of civic duty and concern that they were throwing their youth away on matters the adults should be handling "Was it the same branch that called in the detail for Kiyama Harumi?"
"The same." Tsuzuri confirmed with a nod "Apparently they ran a background check on her brainwave scans that matched the pattern discovered in the coma victims. That alone would've been reason enough to bring her in, but apparently she decided to kidnap one of the Director's personal patients."
"One of Heaven Canceller's?" Aikawa mused, a wry smile adorning her features at the mention of the eternally patient Hospital Director "If it were anyone else I'd make a hopping mad joke, but knowing him he's probably more disappointed in her than anything."
"So how do you want to handle this?" Tsuzuri wondered, bringing out a PDA to bring up the best routes to cover and manpower currently available "Her official record lists her as a Level-0 but considering her potential involvement with Level-Upper she could be hiding an ability."
"Doesn't matter." Aikawa grunted, her expression sour as she collapsed into her chair, sighing in the face of Tsuzuri's confusion "We've been Sidelined. Chief's orders. Seems the Director of M.A.R has asked us to let them handle this since there are civilians involved."
"But…that doesn't make sense!" Tsuzuri exclaimed, only to flinch and wave in apology as several of their colleagues turned to regard her in confusion "Even if civilians are involved, why would the Director of the Multi Active Rescue team side-line Anti-Skill? How did she even get the authority to do so?"
The Multi-Active Rescue Team, better known as M.A.R, were an emergency response organization dedicated to preventing or at the very least control the escalation of civilian casualties whilst rescuing the victims and cleaning up the fallout of whatever dangerous scenarios Academy City experienced.
As a result, the organization often worked hand-in hand with Anti-Skill, particularly during large scale emergencies. Indeed, if Anti-Skill were to be considered Academy City's answer to a standing police force, M.A.R were their various Emergency Rescue Services combined.
However, while the two organizations weren't strangers to working together, this didn't mean they could meddle in each other's divisions. Indeed, the only governing body both were answerable to was the Board of Directors, so the chief had no reason to submit to the Director's request, civilians or no.
"Apparently the Director of M.A.R obtained information from a credible source confirming Kiyama Harumi is the creator of Level-Upper." Aikawa elaborated with a scowl whilst making air quotes with her fingers "And since the program is based on her brain waves, she could potentially tap into the processing power of every Esper connected to the network."
Tsuzuri shivered, unable to comprehend the sheer amount of processing power at the beck and call of a single human being. As a Skill-Out, she knew all too-well how dangerous a combat-capable Esper could be, and that wasn't even taking the Level-5's into account. "So, we're just going to sit this one out?"
"Not much we can do about it." Aikawa admitted with a scoff, an incorrigible smirk spreading across her face as she rose from her seat, ensuring her personal sidearm was holstered "Officially that is. After all, what kind of teachers would we be if we allowed our students to run around playing vigilante?"
A Certain Private Medical ward...
"So let me get this straight." I pressed, glancing between Doc Frog and the wonder stripper, the latter of whom hadn't taken her eyes off the slumbering kids this entire time, gripping her elbow in frustration "You're saying this Kihara fucker was the one who put the kids into a coma?"
"He was also the one who helped me develop Level Upper." Kiyama confessed with a wry smile, earning a look of shock from the girls "Or rather, his research provided the groundwork I used to develop Level Upper, so in a sense you could say he's the true creator, I just piggybacked off his notes."
"Regardless of his involvement, there's no denying that Gensei is the one responsible for their condition." Doc Frog insisted, glancing at the children in concern "Once I learned of their situation, I had them moved to this facility for safekeeping, so Kiyama-kun could work on a cure without interference." He eyed the stripper reproachfully "I never imagined you'd go so far as to use his methods."
"In retrospect, I probably got desperate." Kiyama acknowledged with a shrug "At some point, I was forced to turn to his research for even the slightest hope, and the end-result was Level Upper."
"So just what was your end-game?" I pressed, honestly intrigued by this turn of events. Truth be told, I never imagined the woman who looked so defeated all the time possessed the cojones to step up to the system "I mean, putting more people in comas seems counter-productive if you want to wake the kids."
"My initial plan was to gain access to Tree Diagram." Kiyama confessed with a dismissive shrug "I'd applied countless times but was shot down." He expression hardened as she gripped her arm "Put simply, saving the lives of a few [Child Errors] wasn't worth wasting processing power."
"So you figured you'd use the system yourself and brute force the issue." Kuroko reasoned, sighing in exasperation at how similar a mindset the woman had to her one-sided crush "Honestly, it's like looking at the future Onee-sama."
"I'd never abuse my powers like that!" Misaka squawked, only to avert her eyes in the face of the deadpan stares of everyone in the room who wasn't currently in a medically induced coma. "A-Anyway!" she coughed awkwardly "If you were all set to do that, why the change of plan?"
"Because of your friend here." Harumi confessed, nodding towards the startled Kamijou "The moment you informed me of his ability, I began hypothesizing that it interfered with an Esper's ability to manipulate their A.I.M fields without causing damage to either party."
"So you figured that you'd test to see if it could disrupt whatever's keeping the kids in La-La-Land." I deduced, nodding in understanding even as Touma slowly perked up "Couldn't you have just looked him up in the registry to ask for help?"
"If I'd been given his name or student ID, certainly." Harumi confessed with a wry smile, reminding me that while Misaka and I had both mentioned his ability, we'd never actually used Touma's name "In the end I only had his appearance to go by, so when he showed up in the hospital, I took my chance."
"About that, I'm guessing you used Level-Upper on yourself in order to get my Staff to comply?" Doc Frog proposed, sighing in response to the woman's nod "While I don't appreciate it, I'll let it slide this time since you didn't resort to force, but I will expect a formal letter of apology."
"If he can help my students then I'll perform Dogeza naked in front of the entire hospital." Harumi deadpanned, Touma and Misaka flushing scarlet while Kuroko made strangling noises, the two girls knowing from experience that the woman was serious "On that note, shall we get started?"
"One thing before we begin." Kuroko opined, holding out a pair of handcuffs "Don't get me wrong, while we understand your reasoning, even if we ignore Kamijou-san's kidnapping, the fact remains you were behind the distribution of Level-Upper, so we have to bring you in for that."
"I fully understand." Kiyama assured the teleporter, holding out her hands for her to put the cuffs on "I never entertained the notion of escaping from the beginning. So long as I can wake them up, I don't care what happens to me."
"I can probably pull a few strings to get you a reduced sentence." Doc Frog offered, earning looks of surprise from the others "Though you will still have to serve time for all the trouble caused by Level-Upper, the fact you did it to try and save the children should count for something."
"And at the very least, we know this idiot isn't going to press charges." I mocked, throwing an arm over Touma's shoulder "He'll probably say he went willingly once you told him he could help a bunch of kids."
"Wha-oh! Yeah! That's right!" Touma stammered before nodding in affirmation, his features settling into that familiar determined frown he got whenever he found himself faced with the chance to help someone in need "I came here to help, no kidnapping here."
"Attaboy." I praised whilst patting the urchin head on the back, torn between pride and exasperation that, even after everything that had happened, his desire to help others remained as strong as ever "Now get in there and ring the brats' bells, they've missed out enough school as it is."
"You don't need to hit them, just touching them should be enough." Misaka assured the concerned Kamijou, sending me an exasperated glare that I ignored in favour of watching Touma awkwardly make his way over to the nearest child, Doc Frog and the gathered females looking on with baited breath-!
Only for the moment to be ruined by a group of heavily armed assholes in urban-camouflage power armour busting down the door.
Did you really think it was going to be that easy?
So yeah, as you can tell, Itsuki's involvement has accelerated certain plotlines whilst averting several others.
Needless to say, Therestina isn't about to let her grandfather's research go to waste, even if it means blowing her cover early.
As it stands, we're slowly reaching the climax of season 1 of A Certain Bizarre Adventure, here's hoping things go out with a bang instead of a whimper, eh?