Here it is, the climax of the Level Upper Arc. This has been a long time coming. I've had an idea of how I wanted this to go down since I started writing this story. I'm just glad that I was able to get this far. I can only hope you all like what I did with this chapter. So for now, let's get on the the QA!
Awareness Bringer: Nice to know I have a compatriot when it comes to using dub terminology. No, I'm not having Mikoto join Judgement. In fact, the episode of Railgun just before the Seventh Mist Graviton Bombing had her learn the Judgement was more than just fighting thugs and that it was not for her.
MrQuestionMark: I hope you're ready for this chapter, because I've been waiting to write this from the get-go! I'm happy to hear you liked the character interactions last chapter. I always thought that the reason that Touma is less cynical post-memory loss was because his lose of memory gave him a fresh start. He no longer had those years of bad luck on his mind any more, so it gave him a chance to better take his bad luck and shortcomings in stride rather than moping over his powerlessness to those situations. After all, being unlucky is basically being a victim of circumstance and unable to change the outcome. I'm glad you liked the comedy. I wouldn't be to worried about Touma's brand of idiocy spreading, it's a brand exclusive to the Delta Force, so expect them to show up more, especially when I cover a certain episode involving one of the most cliche and painful forms of romantic misdirect known to man. Thanks for being so understanding about my dub terminology!
The Whole Horse: Yup, pain is a great way to make you feel sympathy, works about 90% of the time. Also, expect me to milk Mikoto's onee-san tendencies in front of Touma in the future. I can't help it, man, I'm Kamikoto trash through and through.
AriaTheLostMelody: I'm glad you liked what I did with the arc and Touma and Mikoto's relationship. Kamikoto is love, Kamikoto is life.
Bluejack222: ;P
ahsoei: Thank you for the criticism. I'll try to pull back on dialogue and add more narration. It's just something that's hard to do when your source material is told nearly entirely in dialogue. Don't worry, everyone will get involved in magic, how exactly it plays out will be a surprise.
Guest (1): I'm glad you liked the chapter. Nice to know there are other dub enthusiasts out there.
Guest (2): Seems a little early for that, but the arm will come off at some point.
Chen (Guest): I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the fight.
ALostBlueIdoit: I'm glad you liked how I handled Mikoto last chapter. She always did have a knack for reading people, at least in my opinion.
Guest (3): Glad you liked the chapter. The Sisters Arc is a long ways off, but it will definitely be a ride to write.
RedSS: Glad you liked the chapter. I'm not giving away any details on what the end ship will be, mainly because I have yet to decide on if I even want there to be an end ship. However, I can say that in traditional "A Certain" fashion, all possible ships will be explored ad some point.
Okay everyone, let's get to it! Disclaimer!
Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines of the "A Certain" franchise are credited to Kazuma Kamachi.
Chapter 6: All or Nothing
Having left the branch office in a hurry, Touma and Mikoto were racing to meet up with the Anti-Skill team sent to apprehend Dr. Kiyama. After being informed of where she was predicted to show up, the pair of students hailed a cab and made their way to the predicted location. If they could get there in time, they might just be able to catch the doctor and find out just why exactly she did what she did.
Tension was high in the back seat of the cab. Despite knowing that Dr. Kiyama was only a researcher and nothing more, Mikoto couldn't help but worry about Uiharu's safety. Because of their inability to learn the truth sooner, they let Uiharu walk straight into the lion's den. For all they knew, Uiharu could have been taken hostage, or even made into another one of the Level Upper's victims. Mikoto was overcome with worry and her constant fidgeting was evidence of that.
Touma noticed this behavior and put his right hand of Mikoto's shoulder. Turning towards him, Mikoto saw that he had a look on his face that was equal parts serious, confident, and comforting. His eyebrows were dropped slightly, but he had a soft smile on his face. There was a fire behind his eyes that was both piercing and warm. If Mikoto were to be honest, she thought he looked pretty cool at that moment, like a hero from an anime, manga, or light novel. The image of him as some sort of knight in shining armor or superhero made her blush a little bit, but she quickly shook away the thought when he spoke.
"Don't worry," Touma said reassuringly before staring at the road ahead of them, "Uiharu will be fine. If I can help it, I'll make sure everyone can walk away from this with a smile."
"That's a pretty lofty goal, you know that?" Mikoto asked.
"Maybe, but it's how I honestly feel. I can't turn my back on someone in need, and that included the aggressors of a conflict," Touma explained, "Everyone I've ever met that did something horrible was simply misguided. They convinced themselves that there was no way out of a situation except for whatever terrible path they took. I'm sure Dr. Kiyama is the same."
Touma took his hand off of Mikoto's shoulder and clutched it in front of him. He stared at it for a second before continuing.
"If that's really the case, then I swear, I'll shatter whatever messed up illusion she has!"
At that moment, Mikoto took her own right hand and placed it on top of Touma's fist, returning the same expression he had given her moments before.
"If that's the case, then allow me to help you shatter that illusion," Mikoto requested confidently.
"Sure thing," Touma replied with a smile, "I appreciate it. Don't worry, I'll have your back."
The Level 5 and Level 0 stared at each other for a moment, reveling in this promise they made. However, they were broken out of their exchange by the sound of an explosion going off on top of a bridge running parallel to the road they were on. Checking their surroundings, the pair realized that they were right next to the bridge that Anti-Skill said they were going to intercept Dr. Kiyama.
Stopping the cab, Mikoto paid for their fare and instructed the driver to get clear of the scene. Meanwhile, Touma had called to Branch Office and put his phone on speaker so Mikoto could hear. According the Kuroko and Konori on the other side of the line, Dr. Kiyama was displaying the use of multiple Esper abilities despite never undergoing ability development. She had obtained the theoretical phenomenon of Dual-Skill. This left the only possibility being a side effect of the Level Upper Network.
Using a maintenance staircase on the side of the bridge, Touma and Mikoto climbed up to find most of Anti-Skill forces were wiped out. Security bots were crushed, armored vehicles were overturned, and officers were unconscious on the ground. The entire scene was coated with dust clouds that were kicked up by the scuffle. Nearby, they saw a blue sports car parked in the middle of the road with an unconscious Uiharu sitting in the passenger seat. Rushing to their friend, Touma pried open the passenger seat door and check on her, surprised to see a pair of handcuffs loosely attached to her wrists, as if recently opened.
"How is she?" Mikoto asked, looking over Touma's shoulder.
"She looks fine," Touma examined as he removed the handcuffs, "She doesn't seem hurt, just knocked unconscious."
"You can relax," a very familiar voice said from within the dust clouds, "She just caught an aftershock from the fighting and got knocked out. Her life is in no danger."
Turning toward the sound of the voice, Mikoto and Touma saw the apparent compound Esper standing before them from the settling dust clouds. Dr. Kiyama just stood there, musing about the situation as if it were nothing special.
"Mikoto Misaka, one of only seven Level 5s in Academy City," she said, turning to face the students, "Despite your extensive skill and experience, I doubt you have fought an opponent much like me. Do you think you'll be able to stop me when I have to power of ten thousand minds at my disposal?"
"Misaka," Touma whispered, "I'll make sure Uiharu is okay for now. I'll leave the doctor to you. Just be careful, there's no telling how many abilities she has at her disposal."
"Thanks for your concern, but I'll be fine," Mikoto declared before charging, "Of course I can take her!"
Mikoto ran full speed at Kiyama, intending to take her down as soon as possible. However, using one of her multiple abilities, the doctor carved out a slab of asphalt from the road and dropped it from under Mikoto's feet. Luckily, she managed to step off the slab before it fell underneath her. The sudden change in terrain caused Mikoto to lose her footing for a second, allowing Kiyama the opportunity to create a small asphalt explosion, enveloping the Railgun in a dust cloud. Miraculously, Mikoto was able to get out of it rather unscathed.
"Your full of surprises," Mikoto quipped, "You really can use multiple abilities. This Dual-Skill thing is pretty interesting. It should make for an interesting battle."
"You'll find my ability is different in nature and in name than the impossible power people speak of," Kiyama corrected, "It should be called, Multi-Skill!"
Kiyama once again used another power, this time appearing to create a blade made form air. The blade sliced through the ground as it made its way towards the Mikoto, but she sidestepped to her left and barely evaded the attack. She then tried to counter with a lightening spear, but the attack was blocked by some sort of invisible force field that surrounded the doctor, much to Mikoto's surprise.
"Is something wrong?" Kiyama asked, "You knew I could use multiple abilities, but you didn't think I could use them all at once?"
Kiyama followed up her defense with a shockwave that collapsed the section of the bridge they were standing on. Rubble crashed to the ground while Kiyama gently floated down. Mikoto on the other hand created an electric current and induced a magnetic field at her extremities, allowing her to stick to the side one of the bridge's columns by attracting to steel interior.
"That was anti-climactic," Kiyama mused, "I would have thought a Level 5 would be capable of more than that."
Not one to take an insult laying down, Mikoto used her electromagnetism to pull a chuck off of the support column and threw it at the doctor. In response, Kiyama created an energy sword and sliced to rock to bits, like it was nothing. She then cut out the part of the column that Mikoto was sticking to, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Misaka, you okay?" Touma called out form the ledge of the now broken bridge.
"Don't worry about me!" Mikoto insisted, "I'll be fine! How is Uiharu?"
"She'll come to in a little bit! I'll be down there to help in a little bit!" Touma replied before running off to the maintenance stairs.
"Why don't you stop this foolishness?" Kiyama suggested, "There's just one little matter I need to look into further. Once that's done, I'll release everyone. I won't sacrifice anyone."
"Are you kidding me?!" Mikoto yelled in outrage, "'Sacrifice anyone'? What about all the people you dragged into this? What about all the people whose lives you've toyed with? After all you've done, there's no chance you're getting away with it!"
"Good grief, you may be a Level 5, but you still have no idea how the world works," Kiyama lamented.
"Not the twisted world you live in!" Mikoto defended.
"You undergo special ability development on a daily basis. Do you really think everything they do in this city is safe and humane?" Kiyama proposed, "The powers that be in Academy City are concealing something very important about these abilities. The teacher who work here know nothing about it, but they're still developing the brains of their young students every day. Can you begin to understand how dangerous that might be?"
"I'll admit, that's quite the story and I'll be sure to take a nice, long look into it," Mikoto responded, "once I take you into custody!"
Kneeling on the ground, Mikoto manipulated the iron sand around her and sent it rocketing towards the doctor. In response, Kiyama used yet another power and used the surround rubble as a shield, stopping the iron sand in its tracks.
"That will have to wait," Kiyama replied, "I have other things to tend to at the moment."
Using another power, Kiyama tossed a trash can full of empty aluminum cans at Mikoto. The Level 5 recognized this maneuver immediately as a Graviton Bomb Attack. Responding accordingly, Mikoto used her electricity to destroy all of the cans before they could go off.
"That's very impressive, too bad," Kiyama lamented as she teleported a can she had saved behind Mikoto, something that Mikoto failed to notice.
By the time she noticed the can, it was already too late. The can was about to blow! It would have been the end for the Railgun if not for a single boy.
"Misaka!" Touma yelled as he ran towards the Level 5.
Touma positioned himself between Mikoto and the can and stretched his right hand towards the makeshift bomb. The can exploded and enveloped the students in an enormous smoke cloud. The area rang with the sound of the bomb's explosion, masking any glass shattering sound that would have rang had Touma's ability worked.
"I expected you to give me more trouble than that. Is that really all you've got, Level 5?" Kiyama asked as she walked away from the smoke cloud, "I suppose you'll hold it against me."
Kiyama continued to walk away, but stopped when she felt someone grab her from behind.
"Look at that, I caught you," Mikoto mused as she wrapped her arms around the doctor's waist.
"Impossible," Kiyama said as she looked back to see Mikoto behind her and Touma walking out of the dust cloud.
"Word of advice, make sure your opponent is actually down and out," Touma quipped as he approached the fight.
"I'll shock you at pointblank range. It doesn't work on this idiot over her," Mikoto explained, "but I don't think even you possess an ability as out of this world as his is!"
"Not to mention, outright impossible," Touma added.
Not about to admit defeat, Kiyama attempted to manipulate the earth around her and attack Mikoto with multiple stone spears. However, Touma quickly rushed in and swatted all of the spears with his right hand. Much to Kiyama's surprise, the sound of shattering glass rang out and the stone spears all collapsed. She was then immediately pumped with several volts of electricity by Mikoto. When she stopped, Kiyama collapsed, only being held up by Mikoto.
"That's a bit of overkill, don't you think?" Touma asked.
"Give me some credit, I was holding back," Mikoto defended.
Mikoto was about to argue more with Touma, but found herself hearing the voices of multiple children in her head. All of them kept saying the same thing over and over again, 'teacher'.
"Do you hear that?" Mikoto asked.
"Hear what?"
"I think I hear children's voices in my head," Mikoto explained before looking at the unconscious doctor in her arms, "I must have created an electrical current that allowed me to see her memories."
From Kiyama's memories, Mikoto saw the images of several children who appeared to be Child Errors and Kiyama's students as part of an experiment. She saw them shower Kiyama with kindness and affection, and Kiyama grew to do the same for them. However, the memories turned sour when an experiment went wrong and all of the children were put into comas. The man in charge of the experiment, someone by the name of Kihara, ordered that the experiment remain under wraps, not even getting the children medical treatment. The sight shocked Mikoto to her very core, causing her to drop the doctor on the ground.
"What was that?" Mikoto asked in shock.
"Are you okay?" Touma asked in concern, not entirely sure what happened.
"You saw what they… what we did?" Kiyama groaned as she tried to pick herself up.
Up on top of the bridge, Uiharu finally woke up after being knocked out from the fighting. She let herself out of the doctor's car to find the aftermath of the recent battle. She could only imagine what could have happened to cause so much destruction. The sound of someone groaning caught the flower-headed girl's attention, drawing her towards the edge of the broken bridge. Kneeling down, she saw Touma and Mikoto standing over a struggling Kiyama, like some sort of interrogation. Deciding to wait and listen, Uiharu kept quite as she watched to conversation unfold.
"What were they doing?" Mikoto asked, regarding the memories she just saw.
The doctor picked herself up and got on her feet, her back turned to the students as she explained her story.
"On the record of off of it, officially it was designed to test controlling AIM diffusion fields," Kiyama explained, "but the real study was on the effects of pushing an ability beyond its natural limit."
"What?" Touma asked in disbelief.
"They overstimulated the children's AIM diffusion fields in order to study run away abilities first hand," Kiyama continued.
"Then…" Mikoto said in shocked realization.
"… they were intentionally manipulated to run out of control," Kiyama confirmed, "but I didn't realize what was going on until after it happened!"
"Experiments… on children…" Touma growled, clutching his right hand.
"Innocent little kids. And even after all this time, they still haven't woken up!" Kiyama began to yell, "We stole their youth from them, and for what? To turn them into laboratory rats?"
"If something that terrible happened, why didn't you report it to Anti-Skill?" Mikoto asked.
"Twenty-three time," Kiyama answered, "That's how many times I requested to use Tree Diagram. If I could just get access to it, I could use it to find a way to retrieve them! I could run simulations to uncover the true reason for the accident! Tree Diagram is the greatest computer in Academy City, if I had it I could have brought those children back! I could have set them free to laugh and run and play in the park like children are supposed to, but I was always turned down! Twenty-three times, they said 'No'! Don't you get it? The board of directors was in on it! There's no way Anti-Skill would act!"
"There had to be some other way!" Touma insisted, "At least something better than this whole Level Upper mess!"
"You understand nothing!" Kiyama yelled, catching Touma and Mikoto off guard, "I would do anything to save them, anything in the entire world. The whole city can hate and revile me, I don't care! I'm not going to let anything stop me now!"
Suddenly, Kiyama stopped shouting. In an instant, all of the anger she was displaying was replaced with pain. She clutched her head as she screamed in pain towards the sky. Something was clearly wrong.
"Are you okay?" Mikoto asked, suddenly worried for the doctor's health.
"The network…" Kiyama said, ", it's out of control."
Without another word, the doctor collapsed on the ground, landing on the ground face first. A light that appeared to move like liquid emerged from the back of the doctor's head before spiraling upward and taking shape. The end result was something that resembled a fetus with a halo above its head and tentacles of green light trailing from its back. It opened its eyes, revealing a pair of red, white, and yellow eyes that appeared almost human. It then let out an ear-piercing scream, like a baby in pain.
Back at the 177th Judgement Branch Office, Kuroko and Konori grew frustrated at their current situation. With the earlier fight, all of the cameras had when dead. To make matters worse, Kuroko's phone wasn't connecting either, so they had no way of knowing what was going on at the scene. Not wanting to just sit by and wait for the end result, Kuroko attempted to leave and go to the scene herself, but was stopped by Konori.
"I can't just leave Sissy alone out there," Kuroko insisted, but found herself wincing at the pain of her injuries.
"How can you help her will all these injuries?" Konori argued.
"Well I…"
"You need to have more faith in Misaka. I'm sure she can handle it," Konori said firmly, "Besides, she's not alone. Kamijou's with her. If anyone can be trusted to keep someone safe, Kamijou will. You trained him yourself, right? Have faith in them."
Completely left without words, all Kuroko could do was look at the now static filled camera feed in worry.
Touma and Mikoto were in complete shock. Neither of them had ever seen anything like it before. Before their very eyes appeared to be a giant fetus made from pure energy. To say that it was a strange sight to behold would be an understatement.
"What is that thing?" Touma asked no one in particular.
"It might be the Metamorpho skill," Mikoto guessed, "I've heard about it before, so I guess it's real."
Without warning, the monster let out another scream, this time releasing a shockwave and some sort of energy attack, the latter of which was aimed specifically at the two students. Acting quickly, Touma stood in front of Mikoto and blocked the attack with his right hand. Mikoto followed up on this by firing a bolt of electricity at the monster, blowing off a chunk of its back.
However, it came as a surprise to the two students when the chunk instantly grew back and added two more arms. In addition, the monster added grew larger to twice it's original size, seemingly disregarding the laws of conservation.
"This is bad, it's getting bigger," Mikoto observed.
"You said this thing might be the result of an ability, right?" Touma asked, "If that's the case, my right hand should make quick work of it!"
Without so much as a second thought, Touma charged right at the monster. He threw a punch at one of the tentacles of light that stretched towards the ground, intending to negate the monster's existence with his right hand. However, he was surprised when the monster suddenly moved backwards, dodging his right-handed punch. This was followed by one of the other light tentacles swinging at Touma's waist, knocking him away form the monster. He rolled on the ground for a little bit before stopping at Mikoto's feet.
"Are you alright?" Mikoto asked in worry as she helped him to his feet.
"I've been hit worse," Touma answered, "That was weird, it was like that thing was actively avoiding my right hand."
Unfortunately, the two students didn't have time to think about the monster's strange behavior. The monster turned it attention towards that pair and created several giant crystal shards from thin air. Knowing what would come next, Touma and Mikoto ran as fast as they could from the monster as it threw several shards at them.
"Hurry, you two!" the voice of a young girl called out.
Looking ahead of them, Touma and Mikoto saw Uiharu peeking out from behind one of the support columns. However, they didn't have time to worry about their friend as four of the shards were getting extremely close. Letting Touma run past her, Mikoto turned to face the shards and used her electricity to destroy them. However, a stray shard got past her and flew towards where Uiharu was hiding. Luckily, a single right hook from Touma was enough to destroy the shard before it got to close.
"Are you alright, Headband?" Touma asked.
"I'm fine," Uiharu replied.
"You shouldn't be down here! It's not safe," Mikoto insisted.
"I'm sorry," Uiharu apologized, "but I…"
"Just stay there!" Mikoto yelled, "I don't know what this thing is, but if it wants a fight, then it can have it!"
Mikoto turned to face the monster, but was surprised to find that it was not attacking them anymore. The most it seemed to be doing was moving off in some random direction away from them. Not only that, but it seemed to be in pain, grabbing at the air like a baby begging for comfort from a parent.
Meanwhile, Kiyama had gotten up after the monster had somehow spawned from the back of her head. She watched as it approached the remaining Anti-Skill officers, prompting them to attack it. The officers unloaded their magazines on the monster, fully intent on destroying it. Unfortunately, attacking the monster only seemed to make things worse, as it regenerated and grew larger faster than the gun fire could destroy it.
All Kiyama could do was laugh and muse at the current situation. The network was out of her control and now on a rampage with no clear way of beating it. Anything done against the monster would only make things worse as it grew in size and power. After all this time, Kiyama admitted to defeat. Her plans were foiled and her hard work lost. She had no way of reviving her students now. She was ready to give up.
"Please, you can't give up now," a very familiar voice begged.
Looking to her right, Kiyama saw that she was approached by the very students that were defying her only five minutes prior. Uiharu was looking at her with pleading eyes while Mikoto and Touma stood behind her, ever cautious about the doctor.
"Is that an AIM diffusion field?" Mikoto asked.
"It's most likely a collection of them," Kiyama answered, "Yes, that's it. I think it would be more accurate to call it an AIM Burst. The AIM diffusion fields of ten thousand people, all bundled up together in the Level Upper Network. They acted as the catalyst to bring to life a monster of latent consciousness. Simply stated, that thing up there is a collection of ten thousand children's thoughts."
"So that explains it," Touma mused as he held his chin.
"What do you mean?" Uiharu asked.
"Remember how that thing dodged my right hand like it knew about it? It must have been because Saten's thoughts make up a part of it," Touma explained.
"That's right," Mikoto realized, "She knew about your hand, so that thing knew as well and purposefully avoided it in order to protect itself."
"What's so special about your right hand?" Kiyama asked in confusion.
"Remember when I asked you if there was an ability that could stop my electricity like it was never there? That's this idiot's ability," Mikoto answered, jabbing a thumb in Touma's direction.
"With a single touch, my right hand can negate anything supernatural," Touma explained, "If that thing is made out of AIM diffusion fields, then a touch from my right hand should destroy it, or at the very least weaken it."
"Why is that?" Kiyama asked further.
Although the doctor was asking, she was still having a hard time believing it. A power that could negate other powers? Such a thing was unimaginable. She would have to look into this boy a bit more when she got the chance.
"During the multiple times Zapper has tried to zap me, I've noticed that there seems to be a specific rate at which my hand can negate things," Touma said, "If a constant source of energy is being provided at a fast enough rate, like a constant stream of Zapper's electricity, then it is possible for a supernatural phenomenon to continue existing or even over power it even if I've touched it."
"If that's the case, we need some way to cut off that thing's energy supply if we want any chance of beating it. Any suggestions?" Mikoto asked the doctor.
"You're asking me?" Kiyama replied with a layer of skepticism, "It doesn't matter what I say, you'll never trust me."
"Then what about this," Uiharu argued, presenting her bare wrists, "You're the one that took off my handcuffs, aren't you?"
"That doesn't mean anything," Kiyama replied, "You can't trust me just because of that."
"That's not all," Uiharu added, looking the doctor straight in the eye, "I know you're sincere about wanting to bring those children back. I can hear it in your voice."
"I agree," Touma said, stepping forward, "Anybody willing to got this far for someone's happiness must have a kind, albeit misguided, heart and genuinely want to help. I should know."
"I trust you," Uiharu said with genuine trust visible in her eyes.
Looking at the girl in front of her, Kiyama could see the face of one of her comatose students. This sight shook her to her very core. She never thought anyone would bestow any trust in her again, especially after what she let happen to her students. The feeling of being trusted, a feeling she didn't think she deserved, gave her renewed resolve to fix her mistake.
"There might be a way," Kiyama said, earning everyone's attention, "Think about it. The AIM Burst is a monster created by the Level Upper Network. If the network were brought down somehow, that might stop, or a the very least make it possible to be destroyed."
"The Level Upper treatment program," Uiharu realized, pulling a small microchip out form her pocket.
"It might not work, but it's worth a shot at least," Kiyama added.
"I'll try to handle that thing," Mikoto said, looking towards the AIM Burst, "Meanwhile, you two get that program to Anti-Skill."
"Not so fast, Zapper," Touma interrupted, "That monster may actively avoid my right hand, but it doesn't mean I can't get a few licks in against it. Even if all I can do is keep it at bay, it will still buy us time for the program to run and make it vulnerable."
"Fine, just make sure you watch my back," Mikoto replied with a smirk.
"That's the idea," Touma said, returning the expression.
"Alright then, let's do this," Uiharu cheered.
"Hang on, one more thing," Touma interrupted, turning towards the doctor.
"What?" Kiyama asked.
Without any warning, Touma slugged her in the face with a right hook, much to the shock of everyone else present.
"That was for causing the whole mess!" Touma yelled, "Sorry, but it had to be done."
"What do you think you're doing, idiot?!" Mikoto asked, "You can't just go punching people in the face like that!"
"You and I both know she deserved it," Touma pointed out.
"That was still a bit much," Uiharu argued.
"Whatever, let's just get this done," Touma said, waving off the topic.
Without so much as another word, Touma ran off to help Anti-Skill with the AIM Burst. Not seeing anything else they could do about Touma's need to punch the doctor, the girls followed his lead and split up in order to take care of their individual tasks. Meanwhile, Kiyama stayed behind, admiring the students that had taken in upon themselves to fix everything. It was hard to believe, but there were still people out there that would trust others without any reason to. Plus, who knew a single teenage boy could punch so hard?
Up on the bridge, Anti-Skill was still fighting the AIM Burst. Amidst the fighting, the captain of the Anti-Skill Unit called in, Aiho Yomikawa, had been smacked away by one of the monster's tentacles. In her shock, Yomikawa's partner, the bandaged Tsuzuri Tessuo, had failed to notice on of the tentacles approach her. Panicking, Tessuo concentrated her fire on the single tentacle, only to run out of ammo. The tentacle regenerated, growing and additional eye and a pair of tiny arms. It approached the Anti-Skill Officer slowly, freezing her in fear.
However, Tessuo was suddenly knocked away from the tentacle by a metal girder, getting her a safe distance out of the tentacle's attacking range. Now that she was out of harms way, Touma rushed in and punched the tentacle with his right fist, destroy the tentacle and causing the AIM Burst to scream in pain. Once Tessuo landed, she looked to her right to see Mikoto, who had used her ability to manipulate girder into knocking her away.
"What were you just standing there for?" Mikoto asked, "That monster could have killed you!"
"Who are you?" Tessuo asked, ignoring Mikoto's question, "A civilian shouldn't be here! It's too dangerous!"
"Jeez, everybody just has to call me a civilian," Mikoto said in an annoyed tone, "It's starting to get old."
"Whatever, just get away from here, right now!" Tessuo argued back.
"Could you two save it for later?!" Touma yelled, punching another tentacle that the arguing girls failed to notice, "We kind of have bigger problems right now."
"He's right. You're the ones that should get going," Mikoto explained, "That thing wouldn't come this way unless you provoke it with more shooting."
"Even so, we can't just stand down and do nothing," Yomikawa interrupted.
"Miss Yomikawa!" Touma yelled in worry as he crouched down to check on his teacher, "Are you alright."
"Don't worry about me," the Anti-Skill Officer insisted, pointing in the direction the AIM Burst was moving in, "You know what that is over there? An experimental nuclear reactor."
"What?!" Touma and Mikoto gasped.
"Hey, what's that girl doing?" Tessuo yelled.
Looking over to where Tessuo was looking, everyone saw, Uiharu running up the maintenance stairs. It took her a moment, but Yomikawa recognized her easily.
"Hey, that's the girl Kiyama was holding hostage," Yomikawa observed, "She sure is taking her time getting away."
"She's not," Touma corrected.
"Uiharu is no longer a hostage and she's not running away," Mikoto explained, "We need to ask a favor."
Down on the ground, the AIM Burst was continuing to make its way towards the nuclear reactor. However, it was interrupted when one of its tentacles was sliced off. The tentacle quickly regenerated, and the monster turned toward the reason it was hurt in the first place, the pair of Touma and Mikoto.
"From now one, you're going to be facing us," Mikoto declared.
Not appreciating the sudden interruption, the AIM Burst fired a single energy blast from the top of its head at the pair. In response, Touma stepped in front of Mikoto and blocked the attack with his right hand, negating it instantly. Although the attack was blocked, the AIM Burst wasn't about to give up so easily and fired multiple energy blasts all at once. Once again, Touma blocked the blasts heading for him and Mikoto, but could only helplessly watch as a stray blast hit the maintenance stairs Uiharu was climbing up.
Miraculously, Uiharu was not hurt and the chip she was holding was not damaged. The stairs were now slightly melted by the blast, but she was not about to let that stop her. She had too much on the line for her to stop now. She made a promise to wake Saten up after she used the Level Upper, and she was going to keep it.
When she finally got to the top of the stairs and onto the bridge, the AIM Burst fired another blast at her. Once again, Uiharu was unharmed, but not by pure luck. When the smoke had cleared, she saw that Yomikawa and Tessuo had defended her with a blast shield and were informed about the Level Upper treatment program. The two Anti-Skill Officers were determined to cover her until she could put the program to use, but they grew worried when the monster began to charge another attack. However, the attack never came as the top of the AIM Burst was blasted apart by a bolt of lightning.
"Didn't you hear what she told you?" Touma asked, "When she tells you to do something, it's in your best interest to do what she says."
"We're your biggest problem right now," Mikoto declared, holding out her left hand, sparks forming at her figure tips.
"Give us your best shot," Touma dared, holding out his right hand.
Their battle plan was simple, so simple in fact that it was almost poetic. Mikoto, being a Level 5 Electromaster, focused on offense. She would use her electricity to blast away parts of the AIM Burst's body and manipulate iron sand to slice at it. Touma, with his mysterious right hand, focused on defense. He would block any supernatural projectile thrown at him and Mikoto, ensuring that nothing brought harm to either of them. That was not to say that their roles did not occasionally overlap. If there was too much for Touma to negate, Mikoto tore the attack apart with her electricity. If a tentacle strayed too close, Touma would punch it out of existence. The two of them were a formidable pair. One of them was a spear that could pierce through anything and never missed her mark. The other was a shield that never yielded and withstood any attack thrown at him. Together, they were nearly unstoppable.
Unfortunately, the battle was not going very well. Despite their best efforts, the AIM Burst was able to progress closer to the nuclear reactor. No matter what they did, the monster would just regenerate what it lost. If Mikoto blow off a limb, it would grow back. If Touma erased a limb from existence, it would grow back. So long as the Level Upper Network was up, it would always grow back. The pair of students soon found themselves with the reactor to their backs and the monster closing in in front of them.
"This is bad," Touma observed, "It's getting closer by the second!"
"Why does it even want the power plant anyway? This is straight out of a monster movie!" Mikoto lamented.
Continuing its assault, the AIM Burst fired multiple crystal shards at the pair, forcing them back. In there attempt to dodge, Mikoto found her ankle caught by on of the AIM Burst's tentacles. The monster swung her around for a little bit before tossing her aside. Acting on instinct, Touma rushed over to the flying Mikoto. By some miracle, he was able to catch her just before she hit the ground, but not without skidding across the ground on his back himself.
"You okay?" Touma asked in concern, wincing at the pain of his landing.
"I should be asking you that," Mikoto answered as she got off him and helped him up.
Although Touma had softened Mikoto's landing, he's actions led to leaving the path to the nuclear reactor open. Seizing the opportunity, the AIM Burst rammed through the wall of the power plant, making it one step closer to its end goal.
Acting quickly, Mikoto grabbed Touma's left hand and dragged him up and over the power plant's wall, using her magnetism to walk up said wall. Once over, the pair positioned themselves between the AIM Burst and the facility itself. It was their last stand, they either stopped the monster there or face the consequences their failure to do so.
As they took their final stand, they noticed something playing in all the speakers throughout the power plant, as well as the rest of the city. From what they could tell, it was some sort of music. However, they let themselves be distracted by the music, giving the AIM Burst the chance to grab and restrain them both. It took special care when grabbing Touma, making sure that his right arm was pressed against his body. When it attempted to attack the two of them with one of its tentacles, Mikoto fired a bolt of electricity from her head, destroying it. Much to the students' surprise, the tentacle did not grow back.
"This music," Mikoto realized, "It must be the treatment program! Uiharu did it!"
"If the network is down," Touma reasoned, "then that means I should be able to do this!"
Wiggling his arm, Touma managed to give his right hand just enough mobility to touch the tentacle holding him. The sound of shattering glass rang out and the tentacle holding him was instantly destroyed. However, it was not enough to destroy the whole thing. The most it did was permanently destroy the tentacle. The AIM Burst was just too big for Touma to negate in its entirety.
"Misaka, there's too much of this thing for me to negate!" Touma yelled, "It's up to you to destroy this thing!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Mikoto relied.
In an instant, she released several hundred volts of electricity straight through the monster. It let out a scream of pain that pierced the air as it was repeatedly shocked. When the electricity finally stopped, the AIM Burst was burnt to a crisp. It collapsed on the ground, creating a tremor that was felt throughout the entire power plant.
"Well, the was a cutting it a bit close," Touma admitted, rubbing the back of his head.
"Don't relax!" Dr. Kiyama yelled as she limped towards the students, "This isn't over yet!"
"What do you think you're doing here?" Mikoto asked is shock.
Unfortunately, she and Touma was surprised to see the AIM Burst begin to get up again. It was hard to believe, but after the beating it was just given, it was still alive.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Touma complained.
"The network may have been disrupted, but remember, that's a mass of ten thousand people's thoughts created by AIM Diffusion Fields," Kiyama explained, "You can't think about it like an ordinary creature."
"Damn it!" Touma yelled as he got in front of Mikoto with his right hand out, ready to defend.
"What are we supposed to do?" Mikoto asked.
"The nucleus! There has to be a nucleus where the fields have become embedded somewhere inside," the doctor deduced, "That's the key! Find a way to destroy it!"
However, before they could even come up with a plan of attack, the AIM Burst appeared to start talking. It spoke in the voices of all the Level Upper victims, lamenting about their broken hopes of becoming Espers. Touma found himself lowering his right hand slightly. It was hard for him to raise a hand against something that sounded so sad, scared, and innocent.
"Hey, Kamijou," Mikoto said, "I'll take it from here. You make sure Dr. Kiyama stays back and away from danger."
"But…" Touma tried to argue.
"Don't argue with me," Mikoto said firmly, "You've done your part, now let me take it from here. Besides, you said it yourself, it's in your best interest to just do what I say."
"… Alright then," Touma conceded, before grabbing Kiyama's arm to lead her away, "Let's move to a safer distance."
"Why should I care? I'm the one that created that thing," Kiyama reasoned.
"Maybe, but if you want to be able to save those children, they're going to want to see your face," Touma argued, "They can only do that if your still alive when they wake up."
"We'll help you save those children, but we won't help you die," Mikoto added, "You shouldn't give up so easily. Got it?"
While they were talking, the AIM Burst turned its attention towards Mikoto. It attempted to attack her with multiple spike-like tentacles, but she zapped them into oblivious without even looking.
"We don't want you getting tangled up it that thing," Mikoto said before turning to the monster, "I'm the one that's going to tangle with it, right about now!"
She blasted the AIM Burst with a stream of lightning, creating and induction field around it. The heat from the field burned away at the monster's body, widdling it down. When the electricity stopped, the monster combined several tentacles to create a sort of arm. It brought the arm down on Mikoto, but she simply used the surrounding iron sand to slice it apart. When the arm failed, the AIM Burst tried using the crystal shards again, but the shards were blocked and shattered by the vortex of iron sand Mikoto had surrounded herself in. The entire time, Mikoto asked for forgiveness from all of the Espers whose thoughts made up the monster for being so insensitive about their plight of feeling powerless.
All the while, Kiyama watched from the sidelines in pure awe at Mikoto's raw power. She was certain now that Mikoto was not using her full power against her when they fought. Had she did, Kiyama probably would have been six feet under already. On the other hand, Touma just had a small smile on his face. He was just glad that all that power was being directed at someone other than him for once.
The AIM Burst began to charge head on at Mikoto, prompting her to pull out an arcade coin and flip in in the air. Recognizing what she was about to do, Touma stepped in front of Kiyama and held out his right hand, just in case.
"You're going to want to stand back," Touma instructed, "This is going to get a bit messy."
"I understand, but this doesn't have to be it. You can keep trying," Mikoto said encouragingly to the AIM Burst, hoping the Esper behind it's creation could hear her, "Don't stay here and let yourself be defeated. You are not defective, there's nothing wrong with you, so don't give up!"
As soon as the coin fell back down, Mikoto flicked it forward and fired her ultimate weapon, her railgun. The coin shot forward, appearing as some sort of orange laser, and flew cleanly through the AIM Burst. The blast flew out the other side of the monster taking with it a red triangular prism, the nucleus, which promptly shattered. With the nucleus destroyed, the AIM Burst began to disintegrate, disappearing in multiple streams of green light. With that, the battle was over.
"So that's it," Kiyama said, on her knees.
"Yup," Touma mused, his hands in his pockets, "That's a Level 5."
Later that day, Powered Suits arrived on the scene to secure the power plant and make sure no damage had fallen on the facility. At the same time, additional Anti-Skill personal arrived to take Dr. Kiyama into custody. The doctor was already in handcuffs and being led into a van when Touma interrupted.
"Hey wait, what do we do?" Touma asked, "About the children, I mean."
"I have no intention of giving up," Kiyama said with a small smile, "I'll just have to try again. It doesn't matter if I'm in a laboratory, or a prison cell. They can lock me up, but they can't stop me from planning. However, I'm still not going to be choosy about my methods. If you don't like the plan I come up with, you'll have to come and stop me again."
The students could only watch awkwardly as the doctor got into the Anti-Skill van and was taken away. One thing was for sure, Kiyama wasn't going to stop taking the most direct path when it came to accomplishing her goals, whether it was saving her students or dealing with stained clothes.
As soon as the van was out of sight, a taxi pulled up in front of the group with a screeching halt. From the taxi came Kuroko, who tackled Mikoto to the ground in a hug. As Kuroko began her usual routine when Mikoto was in some sort of compromising situation, Touma and Uiharu could only laugh stiffly at all too familiar sight. However, she stopped her routine when she remembered she had a message for everyone. All the Level Upper victims had woken up, including Saten.
At Heaven Canceller's hospital, everyone had gathered on the roof, where they found Saten. Touma, Mikoto, and Kuroko stood by the door, where they watched Uiharu and Saten reconcile a few meters away. When the two friends started one of their playful arguments after Saten flipped Uiharu's skirt, one thing was made abundantly clear.
"That settles it, things are officially back to normal," Kuroko observed.
However, Touma and Mikoto both looked at the ground in a rather sullen manner, lost in thought.
"Is something bothering you two?" Kuroko asked.
"Huh?" Touma replied.
"No, it's nothing," Mikoto added.
"Can we really blame the people that used the Level Upper for making the chose they did?" Kuroko asked, reading her friends like open books, "My we are responsible for all this, we Espers who didn't realize how much pain they were in. How hard it must be to live here and not have an ability. That's what you two were thinking, or something along those lines, am I right?"
"I guess you got us good," Touma said with a small smile, rubbing his head.
"I guess so," Mikoto agreed with a small laugh before realizing something, "It seems like you were able to keep your promise too. You made sure everyone was able to walk away from this with a smile."
"So it would seem," Touma said nonchalantly, "It's just what I aim to do."
"That sort of compassion is just like you two. You really are alike in so many ways," Kuroko observed, "And while we're on the subject of compassion, there's on other thing I'd wish you would give some thought to, Sissy."
"Here we go again," Touma lamented with a stiff smile.
"And that is my feelings!" Kuroko finished, leaning in for a kiss, "I deserve some love too, don't I?"
"I should thank you, Kuroko," Mikoto said dangerously as she covered Kuroko's mouth with her hand, "Your unrelentingly, unapologetically, perverted nature has given me some of my strength back!"
"Now, Misaka, let's not do anything we might regret," Touma said, acting as the voice of reason as Mikoto began to spark.
"You want some too, huh?!" Mikoto yelled.
"Rotten luck!" Touma cried as he defended against the shocks Mikoto sent his way while she was zapping Kuroko at pointblank range.
Hearing the commotion, Saten and Uiharu ran up to their friends, laughing, ready to join in on their antics. Everything truly was back to normal.
Now that was a funny chapter to write. I will admit, I cried a little bit rewatching the episodes for this chapter. Those flashbacks just get me every time.
I hope I implemented Touma into the fight well enough. I took whatever knowledge I had on Imagine Breaker, did a little bit of extra research, and tried to make a reasonable scenario for Touma to not make the fight a one-hit-kill while still staying true to canon.
I'll be skipping the swimsuit episode for now (key term for now) and will move on to the additional classes the Level Upper victims had to take. I think you'll all be pleasantly surprised by what I have in store. I'll see you all next time! Fly for the moon!