Her reasons


[ACMI2: Revelation]

GV walked along the path in the darkness, his senses were sharp and supernaturally sharp due to a slight electric field that had formed around him. It might give someone static but it was too week to actually do anything.

Except of course, give away your location if you were hiding behind something.

GV stopped and looked over to a tree on his right. He sensed her standing behind it, her bag full of remotes (And naturally, batteries) stood out.

Well then...

"Why did you question Joule?" He asked into the night.

...

There was an elongated pause as the girl seemed to be trying to judge if he knew she was there for sure. When it seemed clear that he did, she spoke up.

"Because I needed to contact Index." Shokuhou shrugged as she shifted around. She was still leaning on the tree but now she was in view.

GV closed his eyes "Why, did you really lack another way of contacting her?"

"I did, as it happens." She glanced to the side "Getting close enough to ask her something is trouble as she spends time around Touma. He wouldn't... well. It would just be too much trouble to send a proxy to her."

...

Now it was GV who had paused to search for a question. Assuming Shokuhou was telling the truth, she really didn't intend to get Joule involved in this. At least, not more than as a way to talk to someone else.

"What, exactly, was the deal you made with Joule this time?"

"Calling it a deal makes it sound more dramatic than it was." The telepath glanced at him "I asked Joule for Index's number, Joule suggested that I let her just ask Index as she was going to see her anyway. I accepted, no need to have both of us come at the girl from different angles."

He couldn't find any specific fault in that reasoning, but in some ways that annoyed him more. No, he couldn't just assume that this was some sort of perfectly crafted explanation. This could well be the actual truth.

"I thought you struggled to tell the truth?" GV made the comment impulsively and Shokuhou snorted with a hint of anger.

"I tell the truth when I feel I should, nothing more or less."

"And you feel you should here?"

Shokuhou nodded "I heard what happened to Joule earlier, I don't take any credit for it of course but I will at least to what is required to help her if she's been put in danger like that. I owe her that much at least."

"Yes, You do." GV agreed and that seemed to... well... "Sting" Shokuhou in a way. It was like his jab was physical instead of just words.

The most powerful telepath in academy city glared his way "What on earth have I done to you? I'm trying to make an effort to make up to Joule and you just... Agh."

She grunted, turning back away from him in a huff.

"What have you done to me?" GV echoed "You involved Joule in a dangerous plan, I've spent a lot of my life killing the people who do that."

"I didn't intend to harm her!"

"I'm willing to bet those scientists didn't want their lab rat hurt either." A dry reply came her way.

Shokuhou though swung her arm wide as her voice rose "I'm nothing like them. I'm not like those scientists who'd torment and kill innocents for data! I just got Joule to help me-"

"Boosting your power while taking on a guarded facility." GV remarked "She told me, those guards had guns and she would have been the one of you that drew attention the most if she was singing."

"None of them would have been able to hurt her." Shokuhou spoke forcefully "I had control over everyone nearby, by the time they had a clear sight, those guards would have been willing to dive in front of Joule to save her from a bullet."

"And if you had dropped your remotes?" GV suggested "You would have gotten Joule killed."

"In that case I would have died too." Shokuhou reminded him "Besides, I know bits of first aid and could have gotten an ambulance there to keep her alive."

"A shot in the head?" GV noted.

That situation was easily overturned as Shokuhou held her hand to her chest "I am Mental Out, I can heal brain damage."

...

GV raised an eyebrow at that one. He wasn't sure he could buy it but it felt like he should stop pressing there.

"In short." Shokuhou continued, calming down "I was doing all I could to keep her safe, despite the situation."

Hmm.

GV still wasn't happy with her though.

"You were still reckless."

"Oh and who isn't?" Shokuhou asked calmly "Misaka goes out late at night to investigate things alone all the time, you're part of the dark side and might be killed by random outsiders to the city, Touma regularly goes up against threats."

"Misaka doesn't endanger her friends." GV countered "I don't endanger Joule and Touma doesn't intentionally endanger anyone else."

Finally, Shokuhou shrugged "I'm a telepath, unlike you lot I only have power when acting through others in some way." throwing him another look, less than a glare and more like a declaration of victory as she continued "I do the best I can with the tools I have, if I had done nothing, the attempt to bring Misaka to level 6 would have gone on and this city likely wouldn't be here anymore."

"Not that you knew any of that at the time."

"I knew enough of it at the time to act." Shokuhou shrugged and then glanced off to the side "Looks like the others are coming. Sorry, but this talk is ending here."

Turning, GV saw the proxy, Misaka and a short woman coming their way. Time to chat about the robot then.

Did he still want to be involved?

He sighed, no reason not to be, and he still might be able to stop Shokuhou from using any innocents.


End of chapter.

I'm worried I pulled Shokuhou out of character this chapter.