And I'm back! Time for a new chapter, and this is where the secrets really start to unravel. Quick reminder, the chapters for the Sisters Arc are primarily based on how events turned out in Railgun S, mainly because they give the most in-depth look at the arc. I'm still watching both versions of the arc to get a full understanding of what I'm working with. Let me tell you, the difference in perspective between the two versions of the arc become really apparent when you watch the two of them side-by-side. It is especially true in the case of Mikoto, who is depicted as a standard, snooty, rich, high-class girl in Index during the early parts of the arc, but is seen as an emotional Tsundere leaning on the dere side in Railgun. Like, the differences are really glaring, especially with the scene in the park and vending machine.
I'm a bit disappointed that not many of you took my suggestion of adding a song to the background as you read the last scene, but whatever.
Congratulations to Generation Zero for correctly guessing the secret of my Easter Egg. A lot of you managed to guess that the Easter Egg was a Fate reference, but only Generation Zero got the full scope of what I had planned. Admittedly, ArmoredCoreNineBall was the only other person to know, as I have been conversing with him regularly and passed the idea by him. Anyway, since Generation Zero guessed correctly, I will now reveal what exactly I had planned with that Easter Egg.
Now, this plan is still in on the drawing board, but I have a basic concept planned out so far. The idea is to create a spin-off for this story in the form of a Toaru/Fate crossover. This particular crossover would take place some time after the Three Stories Arc at the very least and follows the end of the UBW True Ending. After some time at the Clocktower, Lord El-Melloi II and Rin return to Fuyuki to dismantle the corrupted Holy Grail. However, upon reaching it, the find out it had been stolen by a rouge Magic Side Faction (the details of this have not been fully decided) and modified to produce a Great Holy Grail War, much like in Apocrypha. This rouge group then challenges both the Mage's Association and the Holy Church to fight them for the stolen Grail, which has been moved to Academy City. The Association sends in form Grail War Survivors like El-Melloi, Rin, and Shirou, while the Holy Church sends in Necessarious members Kaori, Stiyl, and Tsuchimikado to act as Masters. Shirou gets Avalon removed and summons Altria(yes, I use the newer translation, deal with it) as Saber, Rin summons a future version of Shirou as Archer, using Shirou himself as a catalyst, El-Melloi summons Iskandar as Rider (potentially as Alexander), Kaori summons Nightingale as Berserker because you need a healer on the team, Stiyl summons Cu Cuchulain as Caster because giant fire monsters, and Tsuchimikado summons Kiritsugu as Assassin because family drama. In addition, Mikoto gets dragged into the war as the Master of Lancer and summons a mysterious Servant covered in high-tech white and blue armor (think of a cross between and Iron Man Suit and a Second Generation Tron Light Suit) and wields a morphing spear made from nano-machines. This crossover would be the kick-off to a potential MCU(Multi-Crossover Universe)(lame pun, I know), where I connect several magical/sci-fi universes in a single, connected universe. Still in the works right now, but it might just become real if I can iron all the details out.
For now, let's focus on the Sisters Arc and get some Q&A done.
general ironox: You guessed right!
Agent Nine: Yup! I love me some good references.
Kim454: I do love a good poetic battle. I'll see what I can do.
ahsoei: Congrats on guessing right. Already have most of the arc planned out, so I'm not sure if I can fit that in. Sorry.
ArmoredCoreNineBall: Thanks for not ratting it out to everyone. How ironic is it that the next person to review guesses the whole picture? I'm glad you liked all the little changes I made to the original events. For Angel Fall, the current plan is to have Shizuri and Touma reunite before then, and then have the whole Kamijou family reunite during the trip. Of course, this leads to some crazy appearance swap antics during the arc with everyone but the men of the family changing appearances, Touma video calling in to check on the girls and tell them what's happening, and Shizuri potentially learning about the existence of magic.
Generation Zero: Congratulations, you got closer to the big picture of the Easter Egg than anyone else. I'm glad you liked all the little character interactions and expansion on Accelerator's motives and backstory.
icedshadows: To be fair, he's always been good at heart. He just doesn't know how to resolve any conflict with anything other than violence. He doesn't like hurting people, but by the time we see him in canon, he's too far gone and doesn't know anything else.
Guest (1): Hey, not all my references are hints towards crossovers. Though, one has to wonder what tiers 3-14 are when not related to Rainicorns.
guest (Guest): Sorry, there's this thing called continuity that I'd like to keep, so doing something like changing a previously introduced characters name and gender for no apparent reason is a big no-no. Sorry if you find this bland, but most of the meat is in the humanizing interactions and relationships, not in over-the-top shock revelation value. Plus, I'm not the biggest fan of genderbending done without a purpose. I'm a fan of cases like Altria of the Nasuverse since her genderbend has a purpose storywise. Random genderbending for things other than a one-time gag are less forgivable for me.
RedSS: Come on, now your just being petty! Why am I getting a Sin for figures of speech?
fencer29: To be fair, Kuroko was slowly losing it. Also, Index has photographic memory. To my understanding, people with photographic memory remember everything, even the stuff they aren't paying particular attention to. Just because Touma is doing his Summer homework now doesn't mean he'll finish it before the Three Stories Arc, trust me, I know.
TeotakuFantasia: Nice to hear someone took my suggestion. No, the others will still be uninvolved in the final confrontation. The Sisters Arc is Touma and Mikoto's arc. They are center stage and it acts as a huge turning point in their relationship.
RPGPersona: Yeah, I probably should have brought up the point of Touma not believing in pedestals. I guess I didn't think much of it since he treats everyone like that since he doesn't care for power. Glad to know you liked all the earlier deviations finally catching up. If I can iron out all the details, that little Easter Egg might hatch into a whole expanded, interconnected universe. Did I really drop subtlety with Accelerator's backstory? I thought I depicted the hurting people as being a nuisance rather than something he hated about his power.
Guest (2): Sorry, out of everyone who guessed, you were the only one off the mark. Estella and her family practice Necromancy and aim to create the perfect Golem. Totally different concept from homunculi. If I can catch up on Accelerator and line-up the timelines, then I might add it in.
And that's all the Q&A. Okay, you know the drill.
Disclaimer: All characters and plotlines of the "A Certain" franchise are credited to Kazuma Kamachi.
Chapter 33: Sisters' Night Out
The next morning, Mikoto woke up completely rested. It was the first proper night of rest she had gotten in a while. Good thing too, since she planned on doing something so incredibly extreme and taxing that it would require all of her strength. She couldn't even afford to use any of it to punish Kuroko for jumping her as soon as she woke up. Besides, she could let it slide for today. After all, it might be the last time it ever happened. Like Kuroko said, if someone did something to put the city in danger, she wouldn't hesitate to do something to stop them, even if that person was Mikoto. Considering it was Academy City's greatest advancement in computer engineering and everything relied on it in some way, destroy the orbiting super computer Tree Diagram seemed like a serious enough crime to warrant arrest.
Despite being well rested, her mind wasn't exactly at ease. In addition to her personal conflict with her plans, there was also the issue of the dream she had last night. It was a memory of her life as a child, living with her mother before coming to Academy City. It reminded her how much simpler life was back then, having her mother fix every single tiny problem overnight. All the dream really served to do was remind her of how harsh reality really was. Her mother wasn't there to fix everything for her. Santa Claus wasn't going to make a house call to stop the experiments. No hero was going to rush in to save the day.
That last point was something she was determined to prove to be true. She wasn't going to let Touma get involved, especially when his missing friend Yuri was at the center of it all, causing the deaths of over ten thousand Sisters. Even if he did get involved, there was nothing he could do. The experiments weren't some illusion he could destroy with his right hand, they were all real. Mikoto didn't need a hero, she didn't want one. This was her mess, so she was going to clean it up herself. Determined to get the job done, Mikoto left her dorm to prepare.
After another day of remedial class, Touma started making his way to a used book store he frequented. Not long after his class was finished, he got a call from Saten, asking him to pick up a book on raising a cat for Index. Apparently, Sphinx was having issues and neither Index nor herself knew how to deal with it. They tried using the internet to find an answer, but with Index's ineptitude with technology, she wouldn't be able to find answers without Saten's help if something else went wrong. Touma could only bemoan his rotten luck at the need to take a detour, but he really couldn't do anything about and agreed to help.
On his way to the book store, he passed by a hillside overhang, the same one that collapsed earlier that month during the Poltergeist Case. Really, it was a miracle they repaired it so quickly. As he walked by, Touma noticed the familiar form of Mikoto Misaka leaning on the safety railing, looking over a view of Academy City. Seeing as he was in no particular rush and was a bit concerned after their conversation over the phone last night, Touma decided to take another quick detour to check on her.
"Hey," Touma greeted as he approached, "Taking in the view?"
"Oh, hi," Mikoto greeted back half-heartedly, "Yeah, I guess you could say that."
"It's quite the sight, isn't it? Academy City at sunset," Touma noted, joining Mikoto by the railing, "Almost like something from a romance manga or something."
"You read those?" Mikoto asked, slightly amused.
"Forced upon me by Aogami," Touma rebutted.
"Well, I guess the view is nice. Though, I could do without those blimps," Mikoto admitted, glaring at the weather forecasting blimp in the skies above, "I really can't stand them."
"Why's that?" Touma inquired.
"They're nothing but machine," Mikoto replied coldly, "programmed to control us."
'She didn't think so lowly of them when she used on to celebrate Dr. Kiyama's birthday,' Touma thought to himself.
Without saying another word, Mikoto walked away, ignoring Touma's protests. At this point, Touma was left completely dumbfound. He didn't say anything wrong, did he? He didn't pry into her personal matters or force her to say anything. All he was trying to do was make conversation. Dejectedly, Touma left the overhang as well, continuing his trip to the bookstore. However, he was surprised to find another girl in the image of Mikoto Misaka kneeling in front of an abandoned black cat, trying to feed it. For a moment, Touma thought he was seeing double. However, a closer look brought a pair of goggles sitting next to the girl on the ground. It was Mikoto's "sister".
With everything that has been happening, Touma was tempted to believe that this person was a clone. He hears rumors of a cloning project linked to Mikoto, she starts acting suspicious, and then suddenly this twin he's never heard about comes out of nowhere? It all seemed to suspect to just be a string of coincidences. Still, as a member of Judgement, he couldn't just jump to an outlandish conclusion just because of a few coincidences without any solid proof and proper investigation. If he wanted to find the truth about this girl, he had to do it right. Besides, even if she was a clone, she is still human. He might as well treat her as such.
"Hey, you're Misaka's sister, right?" Touma greeted, "For a moment, I thought you were your sister. Without the goggles, there's no way to tell the two of you apart. Are you trying to feed the cat?"
"Yes, you are correct, Misaka tells the boy," the girl said as she put her goggles back on her head, "I removed the goggles in order to feed the cat, and previous experiences tell me that they are bothered by reflective surfaces, like lenses, Misaka explains her wardrobe change."
"Yeah, cats are like that," Touma agreed, "So, why put them back on then?"
"Because it was no longer necessary to keep them off. See? Asks Misaka patiently," the girl said in a monotone voice that still managed to come off as impatient.
"So you fed him?" Touma deduced.
"No, I have not," the girl replied after a small pause, much to Touma's confusion.
"If so, why put the goggles back on?" Touma asked, confused by this contradictory logic.
The girl just stared at him, as if refusing the answer out of embarrassment or annoyance. Probably both if she really was Mikoto's sister.
"Well?" Touma asked again, still expecting an answer.
"The reason for that is unimportant, Misaka explains, refusing to answer."
Seeing this girl act all embarrassed and stubborn, Touma couldn't help but chuckle and how similar she was to Mikoto in personality in addition to her appearance. It was actually kind of cute.
"Really? Because based on your reaction, you either don't want anyone to see your sweet side, or you have something physically keeping you from feeding him despite your wishes," Touma deduced, "So, am I right?"
"Misaka will neither confirm nor deny such claim, says Misaka, refusing to answer, making herself clear."
'And the stubbornness cross out of cute and back to annoying,' Touma lamented in his head.
"Fine, don't tell me," Touma sighed, taking his leave, "See you around, I guess."
"Hang on a moment, Misaka says, instructing you to stop walking."
"Okay, what's the deal now?" Touma demanded, starting to get really annoyed.
"You were going to leave. You were going to abandon this creature. Walking away from a helpless hungry cat. How can you bring yourself to do something so cruel? Well? Misaka asks sternly."
"What's with you? I'm not abandoning him, you've got food!" Touma pointed out.
"While it is true that Misaka has food, she is completely incapable of feeding the cat, Misaka says, finally relenting," the girl explained, "Misaka has a critical defect that prevents her from interacting with the cat, Misaka explains further."
"Come on, I'm sure this 'defect' can't be that bad," Touma said dismissively.
"The description is appropriate. It is Misaka's body," the girl explained, "It constantly emits a weak electric field, Misaka says, explaining her defect. It is not strong enough for people to detect, but animals are highly sensitive to it."
To demonstrate, she brought her finger closer to the cat, causing it to flinch slightly.
"You know, now that you mention it, I think your sister might have told me that before?" Touma mused.
"If that is true, than you should be well aware of how animals find being around people like Misaka and big sister to be difficult, Misaka concludes."
"If you want to feed the cat so badly, just give the food to me," Touma reasoned, "I don't mind feeding it."
"Do you not wish to take the cat in and give him a home? Misaka inquires," the girl said, standing up to face the boy, "Are you not a member of Judgement? Is it not your duty to help those in need?"
"Whoa, hang on! How did you know I was in Judgement?" Touma asked in shock, "I barely talked to you yesterday and never even mentioned it. We haven't even exchanged names!"
"Elementary, dear Kamijou, says Misaka, referencing a certain famous detective. Recent news articles mentioned a Certain Strange Addition to Judgement in possession of a prototype, multifunctional, self-recalling weapon who has been in heavily involved in several high-ranked cases. Using my ability, I read the digital data on your suspiciously high-tech wristwatch and deduced that you were that Certain Strange Addition to Judgement, as your wristwatch contains programing that allows it to interact with the weapon you have strapped to the back of your belt, says Misaka, explaining her logical deduction."
'Do I really have that big of a media presence?' Touma thought to himself.
"Ignoring the fact that that was a huge invasion of personal privacy, why don't you take him in?" Touma asked, "If you feel so bad, why would you try to pawn him off on me?"
"Unfortunately, it would not be possible for Misaka to raise a cat, Misaka answers honestly. In addition to the aforementioned critical defect, Misaka's living arrangements are not suited for pet ownership, Misaka clearly states her reasons."
Touma wanted to argue back, but the look in the girl's blank eyes told him he wasn't going to win that argument. With how stubborn this girl was in comparison to Mikoto, it was becoming even more unclear as to whether she was her twin or an artificial clone. On the bright side, he did just confirm that her living space was unusual, which could indicate that she lives in a research facility rather than a dormitory, but even that was questionable evidence.
Regardless of the state of his investigation, Touma reluctantly picked the cat out of the box and cradled it in his arm. He would have to figure something out for the little guy for the time being.
School District 23 was Academy City's dedicated space exploration district. Everything there was related to interstellar research in one way or another. There were observatories, rocket development labs, even a spacecraft launch site. However, the most important facility in the area was Tree Diagram Data Center, the city's only means of communicating with its orbiting super computer. This was Mikoto's target.
Using her power, Mikoto electrically disabled all of the security measures surrounding the facility. She then swung and ran across the walls of the buildings adjacent to the actual data center, using magnetism like a set of invisible vines to reach her destination. It was a simple plan. After breaking in, she would manipulate Tree Diagram to send an error report to the researchers of Project Level 6 Shift. It would be something simple and believable, like her and Accelerator's short battle making it impossible for Accelerator to achieve Level 6, rendering the project pointless. Of course, the researchers were not likely to just give up, and they would request Tree Diagram to do a recalculation, proving the error report to be false. However, that couldn't happen if the project had already gone into bankruptcy, or Tree Diagram itself was destroyed.
This was Mikoto's best and last bet to stop the project. Nothing was going to stop her. She wasn't about to let the project continue as it was. She would stop the project or die trying. The only thing that could stop her now was if Tree Diagram couldn't be accessed for some reason, but what where the chances of that happening.
After agreeing to at least keep an eye on the cat that Mikoto's "sister" found, Touma found himself accompanied by the girl as he continued to make his way to the book store. If Touma had to guess, she probably wanted to make sure he kept his promise to at least find the cat a suitable home and owner. As they walked through the dense city, the pair couldn't help but notice how frequently the can was meowing, as if crying out for attention.
"Why does he keep meowing like that? Asks Misaka, expressing confusion," the girl said as they walked.
"Well, he's probably upset because he's still hungry," Touma deduced.
"So, feed him again," the goggled girl declared.
"Why don't you give it a try this time?" Touma suggested.
"I told you, it is impossible for me to fe-"
"Oh come on, try," Touma insisted, holding the cat closer to the girl.
The girl simply stared blankly at the cat, making it hard to tell what exactly she was thinking. Reluctantly, she reached into her grocery bag and out a single bread crumb. She then held the bread crumb, and to her surprise, the cat ate it straight out of her hand. Even stranger to her was the cat's decision to lick her fingers clean afterwards.
"See, he's eating just fine," Touma pointed out.
"Does he appear to still be upset?" the girl asked.
"No way," Touma said reassuringly, "He seems pretty happy to me."
"Are you happy, cat?" the girl asked directly.
The cat simply meowed in response.
"Well, why don't you give him a name?" Touma asked.
"A name?" the girl replied.
"Yeah, he's your cat, right?" Touma reasoned, "You should give him a name you like."
"Very well," the girl said, taking a pause to think, "It's Dog."
"Huh?"
"Misaka has chosen a name for the black cat and that name is Dog. He is a cat called Dog," Misaka explained with a blank, lopsided smile.
"Come on, honest? Can't you think of something better than that?" Touma begged, "You know, something a bit more dignified."
"Okay. King Henry VIII, Misaka suggests with a straight face."
"Too dignified."
"Then I will call him Schrödinger."
"Quit messing around!" Touma suddenly yelled, "Thought experiment or not, the man talked about locking a cat in a box with poison and radioactive material. Obviously, not a cat lover."
"Alright, I will put it on hold for now," the girl said, leaning into the cat, "On Hold, yes?"
"Is see where this is going," Touma lamented, "Please don't name him On Hold, I'm begging you. Just don't."
'What is up with this girl's sense of humor?' Touma thought to himself as they continued to walk, "It's all about irony and literal interpretations of words with her. It's almost robotic, like her sense of humor is artificial. Even if I wanted to use this as evidence of her being an artificial clone, lots of people have weird tastes in humor. This would just be another example of that.'
"If I may ask, where are we going? This does not appear to be a route leading to any dormitories, says Misaka accurately," Misaka said as she kept pace with Touma.
"That's because I'm not heading home. Not yet, anyway," Touma explained, "There's a book I need to pick up."
"Do you wish to go to the shopping district them? Misaka asks and then points out. Geographically speaking, making a right turn at the previous intersection would be the shorter route."
"It's not that," Touma clarified, "I'm heading for a used book store just past there. A friend of mine recently adopted a cat herself, but she doesn't know much about raising one."
"Would it not be simpler for her to look up the information on the internet? Misaka points out with a hit of skceptism," the girl asked in response.
"Normally, yes. Unfortunately, my friend is even more inept at handling technology than she is at raising cats," Touma admitted, "Besides, she's good with books anyway, so this is the best solution."
"Basically, you are planning to give this friend of you're a book on raising cats so she can take care of both cats and leave you without the responsibility of caring for this one, Misaka deduced."
"No, that's not what I'm planning at all," Touma denied honestly.
Misaka simply gave him a blank stare, clearly not convinced.
"You're not angry, are you?" Touma asked, pleadingly.
"No, I am not angry. However, if something happens to the cat while he is under your watch, I will have you charged of property damage, animal abuse, and have your Judgement status revoked, says Misaka sternly," the girl threatened.
"I knew it, you are angry," Touma lamented.
"No, I am not angry," Misaka denied, clearly angry despite her usual monotone.
Soon enough, the pair found themselves in front of the used book store Touma frequents. Touma instructed Misaka to stay outside and wait while he went inside to find a suitable book. However, just before going inside, he realized that he probably shouldn't bring a cat in with him. Thus, he took the only course of action he could if he were to achieve the result he was looking for.
"Here, think fast, kitty bomb!" Touma yelled, tossing the cat to the young girl.
Her instincts overtaking her sense of reason, Misaka quickly caught the kitten, cradling it in her arms and holding it close. She didn't want to cause the kitten discomfort by being too close to him but choosing to let him hit the ground would have caused him something far worse than simple discomfort.
"Your magnetic field freaks him out, but if you can get past that barrier, that will be a sign of a real bond between you," Touma declared as he entered the store.
"Horrible boy. Does her really think he can get away with that? One does not simply use a kitten to play catch, Misaka says, talking to herself."
Looking down at her kitten, Misaka noticed how the kitten was meowing at her and pawing at her chest. She lifted the kitten up to her face and looked it in the eye, as if to have a proper conversation.
"Is that an upset meow, or a happy one? How does Misaka tell them apart?"
In a random alley in the middle of Academy City, Accelerator had found himself a bit of a nuisance. After taking the alley as a shortcut, he ran into a gang of low level Espers mugging a random student. The victim was already passed out, leaning against the wall of the alley. Apparently, the gang didn't get much of a profit from their victim's wallet, so when they saw Accelerator pass through, the decided to target him next. Big mistake.
The three gang members went down like flies. He had just driven two rods of steel through one of the thug's right hand. He was now ironically leaning against the wall of the alley right next to their previous victim. Accelerator currently had a second thug pinned against the wall underfoot, applying pressure to the poor man's chest. Using his ability, Accelerator spit in the face of Newton's Third Law of Motion and directed the force vectors that would normally be pointed into his foot, out of it, effectively doubling the amount of pressure he was stomping down with. The thug begged him to stop, but Accelerator wasn't having any of it.
"Oh, come on, you were the ones who started it in the first place," Accelerator said as he dug his foot into the thug's chest, "You don't really think you're going to get off with an apology do you?"
Thinking back, Accelerator met that boy a long time ago in a similar situation. The memory was fuzzy, but he remembered it vaguely. He was a kid, barely five years old, and was an incredibly powerful Esper for his age, a Level 3. Some other, slightly older and disgruntled kids heard about him and decided to try and gang up on him in a fight, just to prove themselves. It wasn't the first time it happened either. Kids upset with their low ability levels or slow progress often attacked him to prove that they could be stronger than a Level 3 like him without and ability. However, what many people didn't know was that he had very little control over his ability at the time. Thus, his ability defaulted to reflect all the force applied to him back to its origin, always leaving his attackers with serious recoil damage. He expected to see the same thing happen again that day, but another factor was added. That boy came into the scene.
The boy was a complete stranger at the time. He didn't know who the boy was or where he came from. Yet the boy appeared and helped him, claiming to be a friend that was searching for him. He thought it was a stupid plan, especially when the boy reached out to grab his hand. His ability would have treated the kind gesture just the same any other attack, reflecting it away and potentially breaking it. But it never happened. To Accelerator's surprise, the boy was able to grab his hand without any repercussions and led him away from his challengers.
That boy saved everyone involved that day. He made it so Accelerator didn't have to hurt anyone that day and the attackers didn't get hurt for their misguided actions. Against all odds, the boy managed to resolve the issue without pain on anyone's part, simply by using his words and his admirable acting skills. Accelerator sometimes wished he could do the same, but he knew it was impossible for him. Just like right now, his confrontation with an opposing force was meet with returning it twofold. It was met with people getting hurt.
As he continued to grind his heel into his victim's chest, to hurt him, Accelerator noticed the last remaining thug attempting to run away. Calmly and professionally, he tapped the ground with the tip of his shoe, creating a small vibration. He then amplified that vibration into a localized earthquake that tore up the asphalt, tossing the poor thug into the alley wall.
"Pathetic, I know about ten thousand girls that can take much worse than that without so much as a whimper," Accelerator mused as he approached.
"Please!" the last thug begged, backing into the wall.
"Hey, help a guy out," Accelerator said as he approached, "I got to work up an appetite for dinner somehow."
However, before he could do any real harm to the pathetic, cowering, thug, Accelerator noticed a Sister standing just outside of the alley in front of a book store across the street.
"Yeah, guess it's about that time," Accelerator sigh, leaving the alley, "Lucky you, you get to live for another day."
The last thug passed out from the stress, having just cowered for his life.
Stepping outside of the alley, Accelerator eyed the Sister across the street, waiting for her to come over for the experiment. However, he was surprised to here the same voice for about the 10031st time in the last year coming from his right.
"Thank you for waiting," the voice said, earning Accelerator's attention.
Turning to face the speaker, Accelerator saw another Sister, this one carrying a large guitar case.
"I hope I have not kept you long. I am Misaka 10031, your next opponent, Misaka reports."
Accelerator looked back and forth between the two Sisters before realizing what was happening.
"Tsk, I get it," Accelerator mused, "You guys get pretty confusing after a while."
"Should I apologize for your confusion? Asks Misaka," the clone said as she lowered her goggles.
"I don't need an apology from someone who will be dead before tomorrow," Accelerator replied, leading the Sister into the alley.
Across the street, Misaka 10032 received word of the start of the next experiment over the Misaka Network, the network of the Sister's brains, inspired by the Level Upper.
"Operation confirmed. Misakas 10031 and 10032 will proceed with the predetermined course of action," the Sister said, putting down her kitten and leaving it the resto of the food she bought for it.
Deep in the Tree Diagram Data Center, Mikoto felt like something was terribly wrong. Getting past the external security was no problem. In fact, it was even less security than she expected for such a facility. The inside was even more suspicious, with all forms of equipment being shut down. The light, the sensors, the cameras, the elevator, everything was offline. Mikoto was walking though one of Academy City's most facilities completely uninhibited, and she most definitely was not an invited guest.
When she reached the control room, she found it to be the only room in the whole facility that was still operational. However, the room itself had been completely abandoned, and based on how much dust was on the control panel, it has been as such for a while. It didn't make sense at all. What benefit was there to leave the brain of Academy City completely abandoned and under protected for such a long time.
Taking out her handheld, Mikoto hacked into the system with her ability. However, she was shocked to find that Tree Diagram had not received a single request all day. For a super computer as powerful and important to the city as it was, it should have received several hundred requests daily. Further searching revealed that the requests were indeed sent to the Data Center. However, they never got processed and were just sitting in the computer gathering dust, figuratively and literally.
Eventually, after a little bit of digging, Miko managed to find several reports on Tree Diagram's activity. However, nothing could have prepared her for what those reports said.
"This is the final report regarding the disappearance of Tree Diagram," Mikoto read, "On July 28, at 0020 hours, all communications ceased, and Tree Diagram disappeared from it satellite track. At 0115 that same day, Search Party 1 was dispatched. Later at 0140, one section of Tree Diagram remnants was recovered. Analysis indicates that Tree Diagram no longer exists."
Mikoto could hardly believe it. Tree Diagram doesn't exist anymore? How? What could have happened. Suddenly, it clicked. It all had to do with the date and time it all happened.
"Wait, July 28 at 12:20 in the morning? That's when Index went out of control because of her magical defense systems," Mikoto realized, "That blue beam into space… that's what destroyed it, it has to be. Tree Diagram is gone… because of us."
Well, that was a thing. Yeah, this one feels like mostly a copy and paste job, but it was the best I could really do. A bit of extra backstory for Accelerator, Touma actually interrogation Misaka 10032 with very little results, and Mikoto's realization in the end were really all that is new. Still, good stepping stone for the next chapter, where things really start to shake up.
So, what do you all think of my plans for this story and its possible expansion? Are you excited for it? Do you think its a bit too ambitious? Tell me your thoughts on the future of the story and this chapter in a review. If you like what I have planned for a spin-off, try to guess who the mysterious Lancer is. Your only hit is that they're someone who has appeared in either Fate or Toaru before.
See you all next time!