Trinity of Tokiwadai

by Engineer4Ever

Three very different girls. Each a powerful Esper in the miraculous city of superhumans, Academy City. Together these heroines and their friends explore the wonder and mystery of their City and its Dark Side as the Trinity of Tokiwadai.

4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index

The Trinity of Tokiwadai

Chapter Four: Angels With A Shotgun

Beta: Itherael

---

It was late in the evening and the 177th Judgement Branch was almost entirely empty. Its only current occupant was Konori Mii, the Chief of the branch. She was seated in front of her computer and engaged in a video conference.

"I'm glad that the Graviton Bomber has been caught." Said Yomikawa Aiho, a tall woman with long hair tied into a ponytail, who had glamorous proportions accentuated by the green jersey she wore, her large bust being hugged by it rather tightly. She was a senior member of Anti-Skill, Academy City's police equivalent, and the 177th Branch's contact in the organisation.

"Good job by the way." She complimented, "Your branch solved most of the case and was instrumental in arranging for the bomber to be caught even."

"You're being too generous, Yomikawa-sensei." Konori demurred. "Most of the credit should go to Saten-san."

"I guess..." Yomikawa said as she shifted uncomfortably. "Though I don't think she deserves that much praise. After all, her approach to dealing with the bomb wasn't exactly the best. She had other, possibly better, options after all. Like teleporting the bomb away."

"I wouldn't be too worried about it." Konori said reassuringly. "According to my kouhai, Uiharu-san, who happens to be Saten-san's best friend, she only resorted to relying on barriers because she was stressed and just did what first came to mind."

"That might explain how she reacted to the bomb, but what about what she did to the bomber..." The Anti-Skill officer accused. "She sent him to the hospital. If she wasn't a Level 5-"

The older woman trailed off, a moment of silence passing as both women pondered the privileged treatment that Level 5s enjoyed, even in the eyes of the law.

"I understand." Konori interjected, "However, Saten-san was most definitely not at her best during the situation. The life of Uiharu-san, her best friend, was being threatened by the Bomber. It was only natural for her to overreact."

"People don't have to undergo reconstructive surgery when most people overreact." Yomikawa countered.

Konori winced, even as the other woman continued.

"They don't scare other people so badly by their presence alone that they completely lose the will to fight either."

"Well, from what I've heard, Saten-san can be very scary when she wants to be."

"I've heard much the same." Yomikawa said with a nod. "Let's just hope we never have to be on the receiving end of that." With a shake of her head, as if clearing her previous thoughts from her mind, the woman changed the topic. "Let's get back to business."

Konori nodded. She didn't want to ponder the prospects of facing off against Number 3 either. Besides, it was never going to happen, not with how close she and Uiharu were.

"So any clues as to why espers like Kaitabi Hatsuya have been exhibiting powers above their Levels lately? He's only one of dozens that we know of."

"We might have something actually." Konori informed her Anti-Skill counterpart. "A group of my members followed up a lead and organised some sort of undercover operation. We discovered that it's due to something called Level Upper."

Yomikawa nodded. "We've heard the same from other sources. We don't have a clue about what it is though. What about you?"

"Unfortunately, thanks to some complications..." Konori shifted nervously, "...during our undercover operation we failed to find out either."

Yomikawa eyed the younger woman shrewdly as she squirmed. "Those complications wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the recent blackouts, would it?"

"Of course not." Konori said as calmly as possible, even as she began to sweat a little. She knew full well, thanks to Shirai-san's informal report, that the blackouts were due to the [Railgun]'s overenthusiasm as she helped her roommate pursue the suspects, leading her to badly damage one of the City's major electrical substations. "Why would you think that?"

"No reason." Yomikawa shot back airily. "Just that the Shirai girl at your Branch is friends with [Railgun] isn't she? You think there's a connection?"

"Yes she is, though I don't see any connection."

Yomikawa eyed the stiff Konori like a hawk for a long moment, but when the younger woman did not do more than occasionally nervously fidget, she just sighed.

"Whatever you say."

Konori wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but she knew she wasn't exactly out of the woods yet.

Misaka-san owes me big time for this. Covering for her like this is more troublesome than I would've thought.

"Does Anti-Skill know something about the blackouts that they need to check with Judgement?" Thes bespectacled girl inquired.

"No, just checking a personal hunch."

"...Right."

"Back on topic," The busty woman cleared her throat. "So you don't know anything more about this Level Upper?"

"Unfortunately not."

"I see-" Whatever Yomikawa was about to say was cut off as a alarm went off around her. "Gotta go. It's an emergency. Inform us if you get any new intel. Take care."

Without allowing Konori a single word in edgewise, Yomikawa ended the call.

Finally heaving the sigh of relief she'd been holding back for a while, Konori couldn't help but ponder whether this latest emergency had anything to do with Level Upper. The last few cases all seemed to. I hope this trend doesn't continue, or things might start getting out of hand soon.

---

At a particular hospital in District 7, Kazari and Shirai-san were waiting for an appointment with the hospital's director to discuss the comas that Level Upper users were falling into. They had arrived early, yet thankfully, didn't have to wait long before the doctor they had an appointment with guided the two Judgement members to his office.

He was bald-headed, with his remaining hair having already turned grey. He was dressed in a stereotypical doctor's outfit with a labcoat over a plain shirt and pants. What really stood out about him though was the fact that his appearance bore a great resemblance to that of a frog.

"So you two are here to talk about the Level Upper case?" The doctor said as they walked down a corridor towards his office.

"Yes, we were hoping that you would be able to offer us some insight about our current case. We are investigating why Level Upper users have been falling into comas." Shirai-san explained as they entered the doctor's office.

"Then I suppose you are in luck. I was just about to contact Anti-Skill with my findings, but I suppose I can inform Judgement first. I think that I've just made a breakthrough in figuring out why this is happening."

"You have?" Kazari asks enthusiastically. Even Shirai-san gained an excited gleam to her otherwise composed visage.

"Indeed. Take a look at these brainscan patterns from the Level Upper victims. Brainwaves vary according to each person, so there's no way that any two persons should have the same waveform." The frog faced doctor told them as he typed on his computer to show them the victims' brainwaves, all of which despite reason were identical. "However, I noticed that each of the Level Upper victims had a common brainwave pattern."

"What does that mean?" Shirai-san asked.

"It means that there is someone that is forcing their brains to work with this brainwave pattern, and it is exerting a tremendous influence on the body." The doctor elaborated.

"So Level Upper is forcibly tampering with with their brains, leaving them in vegetative states?"

"Yes. But maintaining this pattern should be impossible. The body should resist the change and naturally reset the brainwaves of people back into their usual patterns. So-"

"Something must be actively maintaining the change?"

"Yes, with the same brainwave patterns programmed into them, we can say the victims are linking up into a network. Probably using the AIM diffusion fields, the force that all the victims as espers are emitting as a carrier signal. With such a network, it is possible for someone to maintain the change to the brainwaves."

"For what reason would someone do this?" Shirai-san fretted. "This seems to be too much of an indirect method of attack towards any targeted person or even against the public as a whole."

"Hmm." Kazari mused, an idea forming in her mind. "This network, it would in similar to a computer network, right?"

"The human brain, especially an esper's, are essentially biological computers so yes." The doctor affirmed with a nod.

Taking confidence from the doctor's statement, Kazari continued offering her idea. "Well, if that's the case, then linking so many computers, or victims in this case, will lead to boosts in the processing ability available to the individual and the network as a whole. This is what is allowing the users to boost their abilities beyond their recorded Levels."

"But even if our brains are likened to computers, we all think differently, like how computers might use different brands of OSes. What's the point of linking them all together?" Shirai-san asked, clearly still confused by where Uiharu was going.

"Yes, the computers on the network have different OSes, and they use different languages as well. But the reason networks can be created are because of protocols."

"So the common brainwave pattern is acting as the protocols?"

"Yes." The resident computer expert said triumphantly as her idea crystallized.

"There are at least 10,000 victims already… That's an enormous amount of computing power." Shirai-san gulped, as the enormity of the situation hit her.

Kazari nodded gravely, as she realized the same. "That's probably why even if someone with a weak ability connects to the network, the network is able to provide them with a significant boost to their ability. Add in a collective of the same type of esper - which considering their individual count, must already exist - things would be far more efficient and the boost even more dramatic. But I think the power boosts are just a side effect-"

"You think the real goal is the computing power?" Shirai-san finished for her partner.

Uiharu nodded nervously. Though that begs the question, why would anyone need to resort to something like this to acquire so much computing power? I mean, why not just apply to use the Tree Diagram?

"As fascinating as this deductive reasoning is, I still have more to share." The doctor cut in, reminding the two Judgement members of his presence .

"Sorry!" Both girls said with apologetic bows as they returned their attention to the office's owner.

Having regained his guests' attention, the doctor looked at his monitor with a contemplative look.

"I believe all the Level Upper victims share the same brainwave pattern of one Esper I know."

"What?" Shirai-san exclaimed. Kazari shared her shock as they'd finally be able to identify the mastermind behind all the trouble with Level Upper. "Who?"

"The Number 3, [Multi-Skill], Saten Ruiko."

Silence filled the room as confusion struck the Level 1 like a tidal wave.

Shirai-san reached out, roughly grabbing the doctor's lapel. "Is that true? Are you certain?!"

The doctor look unfazed at the treatment of his lab coat, nor upset by her threatening tone.

"Yes. It's rather obvious if one considers it. She is the AIM Master of Academy City. Who better to manage a network which uses the field as its carrier signal?"

"NO!" Kazari shouted, her confusion dominating her mind as she tried to compute this revelation. "You're wrong, Saten-san would never-! She wouldn't!"

In a bid to prove the doctor wrong, she whipped out her cellphone and speed-dialed her friend. Placing it to her ear, she heard it ring once.

Saten-san would never do this, she would never hurt all these people... there's no way that she would do something like that.

It rang a second time.

Saten-san wouldn't put people in danger like this, it-it couldn't be right.

Just as the third ring started, there was a click.

"Hello, Uiharu."

At hearing her friend's voice, hope swelled in Kazari's heart. Clenching the device tightly with both hands she asked. "Saten-san, please, tell me you're not involved with Level Upper."

The line was silent for a moment, and the Level 1's heart beat against her ribcage agonizingly as she waited for a reply.

"So you know." Came the reply that tore through her heart.

The flower wearing girl's eyes widened as her body began to shake. "I don't know anything! Please, just tell me you're not involved! Please, Saten-san!"

"I can't do that."

The Judgement member's legs felt weak as she collapsed to her knees, tears streaming from her honey brown eyes.

"Please." She pleaded in a whisper.

"I'm sorry, but I have to do this. For my family."

There was another click and the call ended.

Kazari could only shake as she wept right there in the office, Shirai-san by her side in a second, holding her.

---

It all started with a phone call from a crying Uiharu.

Imagine Naru's surprise that Uiharu had been reduced to tears because of something Saten did.

Level Upper, Saten was the one responsible for it apparently. She was the one putting people into comas.

She never thought her fellow Level 5 would hurt her friend in such a way. Angry, not entirely sure why honestly, the blonde decided she needed to go and drag Saten out from wherever she'd holed up to apologize to Uiharu.

So she made a call or two and found out where Saten and her parental partner in crime were. It wasn't even difficult. They weren't hiding. Not from the Dark Side at least.

They had apparently set up shop in a supposedly abandoned lab complex in District 19.

At seeing it, Naru felt her irritation grow once more. Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she marched towards the building. With but a thought, she summoned her chakra to enhance her strength and pushed against the lab's back door.

With a loud bang, the double doors of the lab's entrance exploded off their hinges, dust flying everywhere. Naru took in a deep breath and walked on in, her hands in her skirt pockets.

Lo and behold, standing in the empty warehouse-esque loading and unloading area, was Saten. She was just standing there and waiting for her, a stoic visage on her face.

What a familiar sight. The blonde mused. Deciding to shoot the breeze as the dust started to settle, Naru greeted her classmate. "How're things going for you, Saten-chan?"

"...Rather well at the moment, until you walked in." The other girl replied in a monotonous voice, more so than she'd heard from her in weeks. Not since they started hanging out.

Naru cocked her head to the side. "Really? I would have thought you would be in tears, since that's how Uiharu-chan is right now. You really hurt her, you know? Shame on you."

Her lips quirked at seeing Saten's shoulders stiffen and her frame go still.

[The Robot] could be as emotionless as she wanted, but even a robot had buttons.

And the Number 2 just knew how to press them.

"I know I did… But as I told her, I have to do this. For my siblings. They're counting on me."

Her cerulean eyes narrowed and she scoffed. "Bullshit."

The taller girl's hands balled into fists, a rare show of emotion from her. A clear sign of how truly angry she was.

"What?"

"I said bullshit." Naru drawled out in a bored tone. "You had a good thing going on and you just went and decided to fuck it up."

If a friendship like that could break… What's the point of me even bothering with these guys.

It was a rare sight, to see two of Academy City's heavyweights stare each other down and get ready to rumble.

"So…" Naru started, glancing around. "Should we make some rules or do you just want to level a good part of the city?" She asked the Number 3.

"Yes." Saten agreed. "I don't think your boss would like that."

"Nothing that will bring the building down?"

"Sounds fair. Think you can keep that promise?"

Naru shrugged with her hands in the air, a smile on her face.

Taking that as a signal to start the fight, Saten conjured three little green orbs around her that spat out laser beams. In a display of her great flexibility, Naru dodged nimbly and casually landed back on her feet, not even winded.

"Those were that haughty bitch [Meltdowner]'s lasers." Naru observed, impressed despite herself. "Are there any powers that you don't have?"

"Outside of those of gemstones like you? No."

Naru couldn't tell whether that was a boast or not, but still bared a toothy smile. "Heh, gotta say this is the most excitement I've had for some time. You've been out of the game for a while, [Multi-Skill]. I'm not some piss bucket that's going to sit there as you brutalize them. Hope you haven't gotten too rusty to handle an actual opponent."

She disappeared in a blink, appearing behind Saten, and channeled her chakra into her leg, lashing out with an axe kick.

The large amount of chakra she had poured into her kick was released as her heel struck a domed barrier. The clash between her powerful attack and Saten's own powerful defense created a shockwave that tore at the air, sending equipment around them flying. Massive cracks danced along the translucent protective dome. She didn't stop to admire her work though, instead teleporting back to her point of origin to avoid a shockwave of energy that was Saten's counterattack.

"Hm, looks like it's not going to be a quick K.O. Oh!" She smiled brightly at the dark haired girl. "Looks like Saten-chan's finally got a sense of fun! We want this to last for a bit right?"

"A battle isn't my idea of fun." Saten said with a frown, even as she created a black hole of some sort next to Naru.

Unfazed, the Number 2 teleported away and continued with her taunts. "Well don't smile all at once. Haven't you heard it's easier to smile than frown?"

"Do you ever stop talking?"

"I like my banter when I can get it. By the way," Naru asked as she caught her breath for a minute. "You never did care for Uiharu-chan, did you?"

Saten's only reply was a massive barrage of beams. There were so many of them and in so many varieties that Naru didn't even bother to keep track.

What is this? Gundam?

She blinked out of the way, reappearing on the ceiling. Using her chakra, she stuck on to the abused roof that had been filled with holes from Saten's furious attack. Hanging upside down, she was forced to use her chakra to stick her skirt to her thighs too, gravity can be such a pain at times.

It was annoying to do it, it was such a waste of chakra.

That said, while Naru wasn't afraid to show off, she wasn't exactly an exhibitionist, so she wasn't about to flash her mature panties at Saten.

I'm not Shutaura after all.

She continued to dance out of the way of the energy volley as it pierced through the building's roof.

"Oh? Hit a nerve? Look at that! Saten-chwan getting touchy feely. So cute~!" She teased with a babyish voice that only seemed to make the barrage increase in volume.

"But you know it's true. After all, if you did, you would have disrupted the Graviton Bomber's AIM field. But you couldn't do that, could you? It might have outed your little network and you just couldn't risk that, right?"

Naru accused as she teleported into one of Saten's blind spots and launched a large fireball back at Saten, who simply tanked the shot with a wall of ice that sublimated directly into steam.

[Maniforce] was not deterred however, dodging Saten's counterattack - another furious energy slavo - she continued with her accusations, blinking from place to place. "Back then even when Uiharu's life was in danger, you chose to protect your precious network over the best chance at keeping her safe. That's positive proof that you don't really care for her. Shameless!"

Since the start, Naru had noticed something. Saten was behaving somewhat sluggish, not heavily mind you, just like she was going 0.2 seconds slower or something. But still plenty noticeable.

At least to [Maniforce] it seemed that way.

Is it because of the stress from maintaining the Level Upper network? But is that enough of an explanation? Hmm… Maybe she's feeling upset for what happened to Uiharu after all.

Naru smirked as she thought about it.

Oi, Fuzzy Butt. Give me a emotion scan here.

What are you doing?

Duh. Fighting a Level 5. Can't you see?

That seemed to have perked the fox right up.

Wake me up sooner! He sounded hungry for blood. Which one is it? Laser Bitch? That Crazy Headband Guy?

Scan, now.

Fine fine, just tell-Oh! Really? Robot Girl?

Yep, she's been a naughty girl and needs a harsh spanking.

You seriously watch too much of that gar-Ouch! That hurt like a bitch!

At his whining, Naru frowned mentally as she ducked under another laser and threw back a blade of wind which was blocked by one of her opponent's forcefields.

What?

So many different emotions all at once. It was like being exposed to some kind of crazy kaleidoscope. It was painful just reading it.

Must be the effect of Level Upper.

Level What?

Nothing important. I'm going to take some of your chakra, we're going Panzer.

Saten wasn't exactly just going to leave Naru alone to have a conversation with her tenant though. She had kept up the pressure with her attacks, this time switching over to trying to skewer Naru with conjured spears of Dark Matter. Naru however countered with her own construct.

In a blaze of blue, a wakizashi of solid chakra formed. Expertly wielding the blade, she proceeded to use it to cut the spears down at blinding speeds.

As the last of the spears shattered, she dismissed the blade as a new construct settled around her body. One which was a far more useful weapon than her sword.

It was a suit of armor, a hulking behemoth of twelve feet, colored in a demonic crimson. Thick armor covered each limb, giving her a much bulkier appearance. The added weight made each step she took leave craters in the ground as Naru lumbered towards Saten. The armor's helm was a domed affair completed with an image of a vaguely human face.

This was her Panzer Demon Frame. A special construct she created from her tenant's chakra that enhanced her abilities, giving her a boost to strength and defence.

She was a walking tank now.

"So you're pulling out one of your trump cards?" Saten commented, otherwise unaffected by her opponent upping the ante.

"Why not? I'm just getting all excited about this fight." Naru replied happily, her voice sounding gravelly.

Saten just shrugged, seemingly unimpressed. Her response to this was to build even more barriers, layering them together to create a veritable fortress.

Raising her bulky armored fists, Naru punched the barriers with a shockwave of force, shattering more than a dozen layers of them like glass. Before she could land another blow, Saten launched a telekinetic attack, yet it failed to do more than make Naru stumble a little. It threw her second punch off slightly, but not much else.

The blonde just retaliated with a third strike, and a fourth, then a fifth. Each building up in speed as the structure around them started to shake at the power being released.

The blows rained on Saten's defenses unrelentingly and [Multi-Skill] seemed barely able to keep up. Giving up any attempt to counterattack, she focused on repairing her barriers in anticipation of the next blow.

As Naru's latest punch struck against Saten's barrier, she felt herself suddenly get caught by a powerful force.

"Aw crud." Naru complained as despite her bulky armor, she was sent flying across the large room, skipping across the ground thrice before she crashed through one of the outer walls.

Laying there, Naru blinked and groaned as her armor creaked. "She did not just go Accelerator on me. Man, what a baby to go and rely on the albino's power."

Just then she noticed the edges of her armor was uneven with chakra escaping in red wisps, as if something was pulling it away.

"You can't mess with my AIM, so you're using vector control to mess with my powers?"

"It's my favored tactic." Saten admitted without pretense as she teleported nearby.

"And since you can't do it yourself as I'm way too alien for you, you gotta use something else to do it." Naru's armor groaned as she forced herself to stand. "Not doing much though."

"Well maybe if you were more normal..."

Naru snorted as she did a mental check on her armor. "Normal's overrated."

Well, her armor was fine. Normally Naru wouldn't care since she could still end most things she was fighting in this Frame even if it was a little damaged. Against Saten though it wasn't really ideal.

It's time to kick this up a notch. Kurama, we're going to use Festung and blow her little lab to dust.

Heh... I love this side of you.

Her armor crumbled and Naru re-absorbed the energy back into her body. Landing on her feet, the blonde looked at Saten with a frown. "So we continuing or are you going to stop this dumb plan of yours?"

"Dumb? Yes, I agree that this plan is not the best." Saten said, sounding pained. "You think we want to do this? Of course not. We simply have no choice! If we want to save our family, this is our only choice." As she spoke, her tone raised noticeably. "An orphan like you wouldn't understand!"

Saten's anger was palpable. It burned in her eyes and her arms trembled from the force of it.

Naru wouldn't say it out loud, but what Saten had just said had actually stung.

Sure, the blonde never had a family. How could she? ...Naru was an alien here. No one had a power anything like hers and the girl had been forced to struggle just to understand what that was.

Parental love? Foreign.

Family bonds? Unknown.

Friendship? Still a work in progress.

"...So what if I don't." Naru mustered out, glaring chilling daggers at Saten. "I might not know what it's like to lose everything, but at least you were lucky to have them to begin with. You didn't start alone. So get off your self-righteous horse! You're no better than a Kihara!"

Saten visibly flinched at that, taking a step back at her words. However, she quickly recovered and glared right back.

The two Level 5s glared at each other in a way that was not too different from a Mexican standoff in a movie. Both begun calling on their power, preparing for the next round of their battle. While Naru begun shaping Kurama's chakra into her Festung Frame, Saten strengthened her barriers while also gathering a strange energy in a tightly compact sphere of deadly power right next to her.

"I think this is far enough." A lackadaisical voice called out, interrupting the fight before the two could go at it again.

"Kaa-san."

"Kiyama."

Stepping between the two mighty espers, seemingly without a care in the world, Kiyama Harumi shot her daughter a stern look. "Ruiko, stand down." The black haired Level 5 hesitated for a moment but eventually did as she was told and pulled down her barriers, also dismissing her energy orb.

When she was satisfied that her command was followed, Kiyama turned to Naru.

"You as well, Namikaze-san."

"And what gives you the authority to give me orders?" Naru asked, eyes narrowed.

"Nothing. I am merely passing on the message."

Naru was about to rebut, only to be preempted by her phone ringing.

"You should answer that." Kiyama suggested with a smug grin. "It's your superior."

Pulling her phone out, Naru saw that Kiyama was right. Her Caller ID clearly indicated that the call was from Aleister Crowley himself. "What?"

"Let Level Upper proceed."

At the sound of his order, the blond grit her teeth. "...Fine."

They both hung up.

Naru sent a disgruntled look to the two in front of her and dismissed the beginnings of her Festung Frame and re-absorbed the chakra. Once the last of her chakra had been recovered, she turned to walk away.

She didn't leave without a parting jab however.

"When you fail, Saten-chan, don't cry too much!" The Number 2 waved her hand. "I'll try not to laugh when you do."

---

"I cannot believe she would do this" Mikoto murmured in shock as she met up with Kuroko and Uiharu-san after their visit to the hospital. They were holed up in her and Kuroko's dorm room for some privacy.

Uiharu-san had a mile long stare in her puffy red eyes, her soaked handkerchief clutched tightly in her hands.

"Saten-san and Kiyama-sensei have disappeared as well. Judgement and Anti-Skill have detainment orders out on them."

And what good can they do against a Level 5? Mikoto realized the sad reality that the policing forces of Academy City were up against the final boss in a RPG while they were still on the first level.

"Kiyama-sensei did this." Uiharu-san muttered. "She put Saten-san up to this, she had to have done so."

"Don't get your hopes up, Uiharu-chan." Namikaze said as she teleported into the room. Her hair was covered in dust and frazzled, her uniform had a few rips here and there along with the occasional scorch mark, and her skirt had a slit up the side.

"What the hell happened to you?" Mikoto asked, seeing her kohai in such a state.

"I got into a little scuffle with Saten-chan."

Scuffle? You look like you came off a battlefield!

"You know where she is?!" Uiharu-san looked at the blonde in surprise.

"Why didn't you inform Judgement or Anti-Skill?" Kuroko narrowed her eyes.

"Listen, you have to hurry up and stop Saten-chan. They're in this lab in District 19. It's the one with the roof full of holes. You can thank Saten-chan for that by the way. Go get her before she moves." Namikaze said, the unsaid 'chop chop' was clearly heard.

Uiharu-san got to her feet immediately, a determined gleam in her eyes even as she rubbed one. "Let's go."

Kuroko nodded and went to her closet, pulling out a long duffle bag and grabbed her nail hostlers. "Setting up."

Mikoto pushed off her bed and looked down at the Usagi. "You coming?"

She offered a weak smile. "Sorry, I've got orders to not interfere. Just telling you guys was already stretching my autonomy."

All the girls looked curious, and uneasy, at who could give the free-spirited Number 2 orders.

Mikoto pushed that thought aside for another time and placed a hand on Namikaze's head, making her whine as she ruffled the younger girl's hair.

"Thanks for going this far for us, you're a good friend."

The small girl looked up at her with a confused tilt of her head, but quickly looked to the side. "Whatever. Just don't be a meathead and fight her head on, this is a mind game more than anything now."

Mikoto rolled her eyes at that. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind."

The Chibi rolled her eyes in return. "I'm going to take a nap or something, let me know how things end up."

[Maniforce] teleported out of the room, leaving the girls to prepare.

"A nap she says, we're about to do all the heavy lifting and she's going to sleep." Kuroko complained with a disgruntled look on her face as she finished securing her holsters to her thighs and hoisted the duffle bag on her shoulder.

"She just fought Saten-san, give her a break." Uiharu-san said. "Maybe she's hurt? We have to hurry."

Mikoto honestly couldn't be sure who Uiharu was referring to. Namikaze? Saten? Both?

It didn't matter though. Not right now.

"Right." Mikoto nodded sternly and fiddled with an arcade token in her hand. "Let's go."

"Hai, Onee-sama."

"Ready to go!"

With that, the trio set off to confront their wayward friend. We're on our way Saten-san, we'll have you back on the straight and narrow soon enough.

---

Huddled behind a pile of old fencing, the three friends observed the lab they were informed about. Said lab indeed had several dozen holes in the roof, like Namikaze said it would, though she'd neglected to mention that the doors were also missing and it was sporting a gaping hole on one side of the building.

Half a dozen powered suits seemed to be performing a patrol of the lab's perimeter. They were large, bulky and intimidating things that looked like a slightly thicker Western suit of armor. They had cylindrical helmets almost fifty centimeters wide. Somewhat humanoid in appearance, the suits had two arms and legs and five fingers on both hands. Their look was completed by a container affixed on their back, appearing like a backpack, which was probably used as a automatic reloader for the shotgun the machine was equipped with.

Thankfully they were unmanned. It would have been troublesome if Saten-san and Kiyama-sensei had hired thugs as guards. It would have complicated things a great deal.

Uiharu was hurriedly typing on her tablet, while shooting the lab occasional quick glances. "If the suits weren't obvious enough, there is definitely something going on in there. The power is on in the building for one, even though it's listed as abandoned. But if they are her it's not on the first floor, from the blueprints I have, it's just storage space. Saten-san and Kiyama-sensei are probably working from the sublevels, it was where the main labs were when this place was up and running."

"Because of course that's where they would be." Onee-sama shook her head. "I feel like I'm in an RPG here."

Uiharu shot her a surprisingly stern glare. "This isn't a game, Misaka-san!"

"I know, I know, just saying." The Level 5 sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck.

Kuroko sighed and stood up. "Uiharu, Onee-sama and I will dispose of the power suits. You start hacking into the lab's network."

"Roger!"

Kuroko could see her Onee-sama smiling, no doubt ready for a rumble. Oh why must she be so violent? Still, that was the type of attitude they needed right now. So the teleporter could lament over this later.

She opened her duffle bag and pulled out three javelins and held them tightly in one hand, she placed the other on Onee-sama's shoulder. "Get ready."

The Electromaster tensed.

"Three, two, one."

The two teleported right above three of the power suits.

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko exclaimed.

"On it!" She returned as she held an arm back and flung a lightning bolt at one of the suits, blowing it up.

Kuroko teleported two of her javelins right into the processing units of a pair of the remaining suits, the steel polearms jutting out of the helmets. With her targets dealt with, Kuroko teleported to her Onee-sama as they fell towards the earth and teleported them to a safe landing.

The last three whirled around towards them as Onee-sama pulled out a coin.

Without so much as a word, she flicked the coin and launched her signature railgun, obliterating them all.

"Onee-sama, we're trying to be stealthy here." Kuroko complained, rubbing her ears as they rung from the blast.

"Sorry." The chestnut haired girl laughed awkwardly.

Uiharu ran towards them, the teleporter's duffle bag on her back. Though she quickly dropped it by Kuroko's feet.

"Here." She said and returned her focus to infiltrating the lab's network.

"Welcome everyone."

They froze at hearing Saten-san's monotone voice over the PA system.

"Saten-san!" Uiharu shouted out.

"Namikaze-san talks too much."

"Yeah…" Onee-sama agreed.

"Pretty much." Kuroko nodded.

"But it's good she did!" Uiharu frowned. "At least this time..."

"Even if I ask nicely, you won't leave, correct?"

"Stop trying to chase us away! Let us help you, Saten-san!" Uiharu shouted back.

Kuroko was starting to worry over Uiharu's mental state due to this affair. Perhaps it would have been better if she had stayed behind.

Still, with how stubborn the girl was, she doubted her partner would have heeded the advice. After all, it was largely due to her insistence that they hadn't contacted Anti-Skill or even their Judgement superiors. All so they could settle the matter without getting Saten-san into trouble with the authorities.

Saten-san sighed over the PA system. "Fine, but I tried to warn you."

"What a cliche bad guy line." Onee-sama muttered in annoyance as they all started to head on in. They saw that the first floor was a wreck with holes, burns, and slash marks scarring the whole area.

"There's a elevator at the far side." Uiharu informed them after a glance at the blueprints on her tablet.

"Great." The Level 5 on their side sarcastically noted. "Any stairs? Not a fan of elevator music."

"There's a set next to the elevator."

"It's boobytrapped isn't it?" Kuroko said with a sigh.

"Big time." Onee-sama nodded sagely. "And you said those times at the arcade were a waste of money."

"Let's put your addiction aside for now, Onee-sama."

"Addication?!"

"Shirai-san! Misaka-san! Focus!" Uiharu snapped.

"Sorry."

"Let's head for the stairs." Uiharu glared at them and the group walked forward.

The stairs looked rather normal, but none of the group was convinced by the facade. Exchanging determined looks, the trio started to climb down, Onee-sama in the lead. She sent out arcs of electricity ahead of them, disarming, and in some cases, even detonating a series of well hidden traps. Carefully concealed tasers, net traps and even a set of guns loaded with tranquilizer darts that had been carefully hidden inside a wall.

Halfway to a landing to the next floor, a sharp eyed Uiharu spotted their next obstacle. "Turrets!"

The Level 5 released a streaming wave of electricity from her digits towards the rotating turrets mounted to the wall. These were shielded against that though, seemingly encased in thick insulating plastic domes.

"Kuroko!"

"Hai!" The teleporter said and touched her nails. They disappeared and the turrets suddenly stopped swiveling and shorted out.

Saten-san grumbled over the PA. "Those were expensive you know."

"And so is getting all those people stuck in the hospital." Kuroko shot back.

"I suppose so." Saten-san replied sounding almost guilty. "But that's a small price to pay for what I'm trying to achieve."

"And what is that, exactly?" Onee-sama demanded.

There was no reply, at least not verbally. Instead, Kuroko was suddenly assaulted by a vision.

Her vision suddenly blanked out and was replaced by a frozen image of a bloody scene. All around her were dozens of bodies, all bleeding from what looked like knife wounds. Some were more unfortunate and had somehow been reduced to unrecognizable masses of flesh.

Kuroko herself felt like she was choking even as she was pinned down somehow. Turning to see what was holding her down, she saw she was being held down by a man and a woman. The sight of which sent a stab of sorrow deep into her heart.

My parents. They died shielding me.

Her sadness grew when she saw the body of a little boy that had his arm cut off.

My brother. An innocent that died just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"-ko! Kuroko!" Onee-sama shouted, shaking the petite girl's shoulder. "You okay?"

Drawn back to reality by her Onee-sama, her vision cleared. Still a little disoriented, the teleporter shook her head. "I think I was attacked mentally."

"S-Same here." Uiharu gulped, her hands trembling. "I think we saw one of Saten-san's memories."

That's how it all started for me. A childish version of Saten-san's voice whispered into her mind.

"You saw her memories?" Onee-sama hissed quietly.

"But how?" Kuroko blinked a few times, it felt like there was some kind of ocular aftertaste in her eyes.

As they proceeded to continue further into the bowels of the building, the Level 5 furrowed her brow. "We're at the center of the Level Upper Network, right? That means we're basically inside a massive AIM field so maybe that's how it's affecting you guys."

"Can it do something like that?" Uiharu quietly asked as she fiddled with her tablet.

Onee-sama shrugged. "I dunno, I'm just tossing out a theory here."

Kuroko was about to inquire more but before she could open her mouth, an emotion literally struck her core.

Loneliness, cold and terrible loneliness.

At the same time, a unfamiliar disembodied voice echoed through her mind.

"Hey! You're a just lousy Level Zero! We might all be Child Errors but you're worst than that, you're nothing."

Kuroko felt crushed at the word zero. She had worked hard! She'd tried! Stop it! Stop making fun of her!

Tears pooled in her eyes, while next to her Uiharu looked ready to break down as they made it down another level. Pass a landing with no door.

"Oi! Saten!" Onee-sama shouted, glaring all around them. "Stop it! You're making them see these memories on purpose, aren't you? We get that you've got some problems, but you can't just use them to justify this!"

There was no response. It seemed Saten-san was ignoring them.

"Let's just continue." Kuroko pointed to the opening at the foot of the stairs.

A small series of metallic panels converged at the frame, linking together in a tight weave to create a vault-like exterior.

"...A door." Onee-sama's eye twitched. "We go through power suits, turrets, memory assault, and you seal a door on us?"

Cocking her arm back, she just chucked a bolt of lightning at it. "You gotta be kidding me!"

"Onee-sama! Don't do that in such an enclosed space!" Kuroko scolded her as she and Uiharu hung onto the stair railing as the building shook from the shockwave created by her attack impacting the seal on the door. An attack which incidentally easily tore a hole right through the metallic panels.

"She just keeps pissing me off today." The Number 5 retorted and nudged her head forward. "Let's go ladies."

Kuroko sighed and shared a look with Uiharu before they stepped forward and passed the threshold.

At that moment, she was overcome by another surge of foreign emotion. Instead of the haunting loneliness from before, this time it was joy.

For the first time since my family went to heaven, I was happy. Saten-san's disembodied voice once more echoed through Kuroko's mind.

It was accompanied by the laughter of children.

I had finally found a group where I was no longer an outcast.

And then an image of a younger, short haired Kiyama-sensei standing awkwardly at the front of a classroom flashed briefly before her eyes.

But even more incredible was her. Sensei. She was always there. Saten exclaimed in a childishly excited voice. She might be clueless, clumsy, and pretty weird, but she still cared about us! Even though we played pranks on her, teased her about her tendency to strip for no good reason, she always came back for us. For the first time in such a long time, for all of us, she was the closest thing we had to a parent. No, no, she was our parent. Our mother!

"Kiyama-sensei." Uiharu's smiled, wiping a tear from her eye.

"That's was... I've never felt so delighted…" Kuroko confessed to herself, a hand over her heart as a warm fuzzy feeling came over her.

Onee-sama gave them warning looks. "Easy, she's pushing memories and emotions into you. Don't let it distract you."

The teleporter held her tongue, she knew Onee-sama was correct, but these honest and true feelings were just hard to ignore.

The [Railgun] continued forward, keeping an eagle eye on every nook, cranny, and shadow. "The main lab's up ahead, keep on your toes. She's gotta have more traps lying about."

As if Murphy heard her, vents opened up along the walls of the hallway they were walking down and began spewing out smoky white fumes.

"What is-? Is that knockout gas? Seriously? What is this?! A spy movie!" Onee-sama complained, looking ready to pull her hair out. "Wait! Maybe I can hack the system and-"

"And done." Uiharu smiled happily, as she finished inputting a series of commands on her tablet.

The gas from the vents stopped being pumped out and they closed up once more. At the same time, the sound of powerful fans starting up could be heard as they sucked the gas out of the corridor. It took only a minute before the room was clear of the gas, leaving it safe for them to traverse the hallway leading to the lab.

"Eh?" Onee-sama blinked. "But I was gonna hack it."

"And I did." Uiharu smiled angelically.

That was so fast though." As the trio started walking again.

"Uiharu is a natural at hacking, Onee-sama."

Her Onee-sama simply pouted. "But I wanted to do it…"

Kuroko shook her head. Onee-sama, you can be so childish.

"She most likely assumed you would blow it up again and did it for you."

"Oi!"

Up ahead was a door labelled "Kiyama AIM Labs".

"Quaint." Kuroko quipped as she slowly reached for the knob. As her hand wrapped around the steel, she was hit once more with a memory.

Standing amid rows of Testament pods, all of which were covered in the blood of her siblings, Kuroko was overwhelmed by Saten-san's horror.

The AIM Diffusion Field Control Experiment. Or as it was more properly known 'Experiment on the analysis of the laws of induced explosions on runaway espers'. A dangerous experiment that sought to search for the trigger for overloading AIM diffusion fields in espers. Something they did by artificially inducing such an overload in us. Saten-san explained in the most derisive voice Kuroko had heard anyone use. It sent my siblings into comas and awoke my accursed power.

Suddenly the scene shifted and Kuroko found herself undergoing a medical exam, one that she just knew was just after Saten-san had first emulated the ability of another esper.

"I want a smoke." A uncharacteristically masculine voice came from a younger Saten-san's mouth much to the horror of both Kuroko and Saten herself.

A horror not shared by the scientists standing in front of her.

"Fascinating. So not only can she emulate the powers of other espers by shaping her AIM field to mimic their own, she also picks up aspects of them as well."

"It must be a side-effect of copying, in part, their personal realities."

These scientists, they had no concern whatsoever that with each new power I emulated, I lost one more part of my own psyche.

A rapid fire series of images of various espers flashed through Kuroko's mind. Notables included the Level 5s like Accelerator and Onee-sama, but there were hundreds in-between. All the while, her mind was filled with a steadily growing cacophony of disembodied voices and feelings not her own. It just grew and grew until Kuroko could barely hear her own thoughts or discern her own feelings from all the others.

It was like her mind was swelling and refused to burst! It would have been a mercy if it did.

It was all too much! I had to find a way to cope, and I did. I turned my mind into a computer and became [The Robot]. The loss of humanity didn't faze the monsters however, it just justified what they planned to do with me next.

"So she's turned herself into a machine?" The voice of an old man said. "Well, if that's the case, then it's only right to have her play the part and be a nice little weapon for the City, no?"

What followed were a series of thankfully fleeting images of various battlefields from around the world, all of which starred an outwardly emotionless Saten-san brutally massacring enemy soldiers all while in the depths of her battered mind, the remnants of her humanity recoiled in horror.

I became Academy City's weapon, its dreaded [Army Slayer]. They dressed it up as me being the City's great defender but in reality they just sent me out to deal with its enemies. They even hired me out to other groups, other countries, to dispose of their enemies in the name of goodwill. In truth, they just wanted to remind them that Academy City was the one in charge.

But even all that was just an excuse. In reality, the whole thing was just another justification to give me more powers to emulate, so as to make me more effective.

I knew all this, but I couldn't say no. Not when I knew that Kaa-san was still in the City and at its mercy. Saten mused sadly. But I wasn't helpless. Going to war quickly taught me how important intelligence is. It was a lesson I used to free myself.

"So you blackmailed your handlers to free yourself from their control?" A older woman in her fifties or sixties with a small build asked. This was Oyafune Monaka, someone who the Level 5 knew to be the only moral Director on the City's Board. "And now you want me to back you and your freedom?"

"Yes." Saten-san in a utterly dead voice.

The older woman frowned but otherwise did not give any other sign that she noted Saten-san's inhumanity. "Very well."

"Thank you."

Even though Saten-san was just as monotonous as before, Kuroko seeing things from her perspective could easily sense the true gratitude at Oyafune's easy acceptance of her request. A sense of gratitude that grew even stronger, when the scene once again changed and the older woman was reuniting Saten-san wtih Kiyama-sensei and began working to have her be formally adopted by her mother figure.

Saten-san's happiness did not last though as she learnt that unlike herself none of her siblings had woke up. In light of this, she promised herself that she would save them no matter what.

Even if it meant using something as terrible as Level Upper.

"-uroko! Oh my god, stop screaming! Kuroko! Get a hold of yourself! Clench your teeth, this is gonna hurt!"

The teleporter's whole body felt a shock come over it as the memory faded.

"That was intense." Kuroko said with a groan, her body smoking. Her Onee-sama's whip of love came through for her after all. "It was like she decided to stop holding back and just jammed everything she still wanted to show us into one big chunk."

While Kuroko was having some difficulty coping with the memory, Uiharu was taking it much worse. She had collapsed onto her knees, and was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Saten!" Onee-sama stood up furiously and kicked open the door with jarring force. "This game ends now!"

"Is that so, Misaka-sempai?" Saten-san asked almost coyly over the PA.

Before Onee-sama could reply, Uiharu spoke up in a soft voice. "Saten-san, is Level Upper really able to save your siblings?"

"Yes. It will provide us with the computational power to run the simulations and calculations Kaa-san needs to find a solution."

"Why not just request access to Tree Diagram?" Onee-sama asked with a frown, her anger from earlier set aside for the moment.

"Do you think the Directors would ever allow it? Doing so would be handing over the only thing they can bribe me with. They would never hand over such a valuable piece of leverage. [Maniforce]'s boss would never allow it."

"Namikaze-san's boss?" Kuroko asked as she brought up her guard. "The one who told her not to interfere?"

"That's right, the Superintendent of Academy City himself."

I've never seen heard of or seen such a person. And yet Namikaze-san works directly for him? Once again, a new mystery had been added to Kuroko's understanding of the little blonde. One of an ever growing number of unanswered questions.

"It doesn't matter that we can't use Tree Diagram though, with Level Upper we have enough computing power to save them!" Saten-san shouted over the PA. Almost as if on cue, Kiyama-sensei chose this moment to enter the room.

---

Play Disgaea OST: Beautiful Round Dance

---

For a moment, happiness filled Kuroko, but she quickly realized it was just an after effect of being exposed to Saten-san's memories. What she was feeling was the other girl's affections for the woman. It was more than she'd ever imagined though. Before Saten-san had apparently decided to give Uiharu and herself a tour through her past, Kuroko had never fully appreciated the closeness that her friend shared with her adoptive mother. Between Saten-san's own often mechanical mannerisms and Kiyama-sensei's odd behavior, it was hard to see the love between them. Kuroko knew better now. Saten-san would do anything for her mother, and she knew the woman would do likewise.

"Welcome girls." Kiyama-sensei greeted in a oddly sincere way considering the situation. "We were expecting you."

"And creepy bad guy line number twenty two." Onee-sama muttered under her breath as she stepped forward gallantly and made a fist. Her eyes narrowed as she said. "Kiyama-sensei, this has got to stop. This is crazy!"

"Is it? I'd describe it as ironic, myself." Kiyama said with a wry grin. "We do something unethical, or as you say 'crazy', and we finally get official sanction for our plan to save the kids."

"Then you can use Tree-" Uiharu began enthusiastically, only to be cut off by the older woman.

Kiyama-sensei just shook her head sadly. "I wish that were the case. Even with authorization, they still play with us and refuse to allow us to make use of Tree Diagram."

"So you just use people like lab rats instead? Turn them into computers...like Saten." Onee-sama barely withheld a snarl.

"Ruiko is not a computer!" The scientist shouted back defensively.

Onee-sama hummed, but kept her eyes wearily glued on the woman, the Teleporter also grasped her nails in case the woman turned hostile. So far thankfully, she seemed happy to just talk, but the Judgement agent knew that it would not last.

"By the way, from what I've seen on the surveillance footage so far, Ruiko showed you girls some memories from her past, didn't she, Shirai-san, Uiharu-chan?" Kiyama-sensei said wistfully. "I wonder what she let you see."

"She showed us enough!" Uiharu shot back aggressively. "She showed us how you're using her just like people have been using her ever since she's come to Academy City!"

Kiyama-sensei's eyes narrowed into a frankly terrifying glare that she leveled at Uiharu.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Uiharu-chan." She said in a menacing voice even as the retina in her right eye turned red and objects around her started to wobble unnaturally.

Kiyama-sensei is an esper!?

"She's keyed into the Level Upper Network." Onee-sama reasoned as she tensed.

Uiharu didn't seem to care about the display though as she continued to berate their friend's mother.

"Kiyama-sensei!" Uiharu said in an uncharacteristic shout as she glared at the scientist. It was such an unexpected way for her partner to react that it startled Kuroko. "Why are you putting Saten-san's life at risk like this!?"

Kiyama-sensei stiffened, but didn't respond.

"Saten's life is at risk?" Onee-sama asked in a shocked gasp.

"Yes," Kuroko said in a pained whisper. "In a sense at least. Every time she copies a power, she gains an impression of the mind of the person whose power she is copying. And with the number of Level Upper users-"

"Her mind must be overloaded." Onee-sama concluded in a horrified tone.

"Terribly so." Kiyama-sensei admitted sounding pained. "Ruiko's grasp on her identity and sanity was already tenuous at best. The Network is a great strain on her."

"Then why did you do it!?" Uiharu accused as she continued to glare at the older woman, her hands tightening around her tablet.

"Ruiko volunteered." Kiyama-sensei replied with a strained look on her face.

"And you let her!"

"Enough talk." Kiyama-sensei said in a chilling voice.

She was hit with a blast of lightning right then and there. The light of the blast in the confined space of the room blinding everyone.

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko looked shocked at the sudden attack as she turned to face her to see electricity dancing across the older girl's forehead.

"We have to end this fast." Onee-sama simply told her.

"Admirable, Number 5." A unharmed Kiyama-sensei said as the Teleporter returned her attention to their opponent who stood within a translucent gray dome that must have somehow protected her from the attack. "However, such a direct approach is easily countered."

"So I was right. Great, this just got annoying."

"Indeed." Kiyama-sensei acknowledged with a nod as she levitated a bunch of loose stuff - small bits of lab equipment, loose stationery, even a handful of long abandoned coffee mugs - and launched them towards the three girls.

Onee-sama let out a shout as she slammed her palm to the ground, a wave of electricity arcing forward, destroying all the debris. The Ace of Tokiwadai had a smirk on her face.

"A direct approach like that is easily countered."

Kiyama-sense's only reply was a smirk of her own. Suddenly, Uiharu let out a squeal as she was telekinetically shoved away from the other girls. Kuroko turned to check on her partner only to spot an aluminum can teleport into position behind her and her Onee-sama. Acting quickly she grabbed the Level 5 and teleported away, just in time to avoid the can exploding with the force of a grenade.

"Why are you even fighting us?" Kuroko asked as they reappeared. "Saten's too busy to deal with us herself?"

"She's stalling, we have to take her down!" The Electromaster ordered as she fished out an arcade token.

"Are you crazy?" Kiyama-sensei asked, though her oddly unfazed expression clashed with her incredulous tone.

Kuroko was wondering the exact same thing!

If Onee-sama fired her Railgun right inside the building, it'd come down on all of them!

The older girl just smirked, took aim and flicked her token into the air. "Don't blink."

At her warning, Onee-sama adjusted her arm, thus adjusting her aim and targeted the door at the other side of the room, which likely led to where their objective - Saten-san - likely was.

Kiyama-sensei's eyes widened as she herself teleported in front of the door and stared Onee-sama down, raising her hands up as her face looked strained once again.

Kuroko narrowed her eyes at the charge along Onee-sama's arm, something wasn't-! Her eyes widened and she felt a small smile come across her face.

"Say hello to one hundred percent Railgun!"

Onee-sama flicked the coin, the token simply skipped across the ground harmlessly.

Kuroko teleported the very moment the coin came down, appearing right behind the scientist and swung her leg right at the woman's head in an attempt to knock her out.

Just as the sole of her foot was about to make contact, it was blocked by a rainbow colored flash of light, a pained cry attacking Kuroko's mind at the same time.

"NO!"

Kiyama-sensei turned around, their gambit thwarted. Just as she was about to attack the Teleporter, she blinked away. Thus narrowly avoiding a barrage of ice needles that would have left her a human pincushion. Reappearing in a tumble, she came to a stop near her Onee-sama as she rubbed her head.

"I believe Saten blocked it. I'm sorry, Onee-sama." Kuroko felt a pang of disappointment at the failed attempt. Perhaps if she had been quicker? No, Saten would have reacted the same even so.

Onee-sama clicked her tongue. "It's fine, we're pretty much just testing the waters here."

"Saten-san!" Uiharu shouted, having recovered from her earlier tumble. "You're watching this fight, aren't you? I saw you help Kiyama-sensei! Please stop! Please!"

"Ruiko, won't be so easily moved, Uiharu-chan. We are determin-"

"Urasai!" Uiharu screamed at the woman, tears in her eyes. For someone who was usually so soft spoken and timid, it was a rare sight to see such a fire in those honey brown eyes. "Just because Saten-san volunteered? She only did this because she can't tell you no! She loves you too much for that!"

Kiyama-sensei's eyes widened in what might have been a shocked epiphany, but Kuroko had no sympathy for her. Instead she took the opportunity the idiot woman's distraction offered and teleported a number of her nails into her body. Unfortunately, the projectiles just fell to the floor around her harmlessly.

The effect was so similar to a Level Upper using thug that she'd recently dealt with that Kuroko immediately figured out the trick.

"She's using Trick Art." The Judgement member said sourly, feeling the phantom pains of her fight with the crazed thug.

"Trick what?"

"It's a ability to bend light to distort images." Kuroko explained. "It makes gauging where the user's position difficult by creating illusions. Hitting the target and avoiding hits yourself becomes very hard."

"...It just interferes with the flow of light around a target, right?" Onee-sama asked her quickly.

"I believe so." Kuroko answered unsurely. What was her Onee-sama getting at?

"Buy me a few seconds."

"I'm afraid I'm not going to give you that much time, [Railgun]." Kiyama-sensei declared as she raised a hand, cupping a sphere of plasma at the two Tokiwadai girls. At the last minute however, she was forced to abort her attack as Uiharu tried to tackle her. Forced to turn her attention to the Level 1, the scientist let the plasma dissipate and with a sigh telekinetically lifted the girl into the air and sent her flying to land gently in a office chair at the far side of the lab which spun wildly at the sudden move.

"I think I'm going to hurl!" Uiharu cried out with dizzy eyes.

"Onee-sama! Did you see that? It looks like she can only use two powers at a time."

"Don't count on it." Onee-sama hissed under her breathe as she continued to cook up whatever she was working on. "It's probably a trick."

"Talking about tricks. I can't make a building fall on this-" Kuroko was cut off by a force slamming into her and sending her sprawling onto the ground. "-one… I am willing to make an exception here if we could actually afford it."

Sadly, they could not.

She moved to grab a few of the discarded and charred items that her Onee-sama had destroyed from Kiyama-sensei's starting attack and teleported them in a random pattern around the room. Hoping, praying, that they would tap into something to at least give her a clue where the woman was.

Her teleportation failed though and the objects remained where they were.

"Wha-" Kuroko stifled her surprise quickly though as the spatial awareness that was part of her ability quickly allowed her to figure out what was going on. Kiyama-sensei wasn't just distorting light it seemed, but the space around her too. Subtly, mind you, so it was not visibly noticeable. But more than enough to throw off the Teleporter's calculations and make her ability fail.

"Ugh! She's locked down my ability."

The only sign that her Onee-sama noticed her predicament was the narrowing of her eyes, beyond that she was too focused on looking around the room cautiously. All whilst her electricity arced around her body, scorching the ground in her vicinity. Her eyes were focused, almost luminous as her lightning reflected off them. In a triumphant voice, she shouted.

"Found you!"

She discharged a wave of lightning towards one half of the room, ozone filled the air even as they impacted the same translucent grey dome that Kiyama-sensei had used earlier.

"This same old trick?" The older woman said in a dismissive tone. "You'll need to try something ne-"

Her taunt was cut off however as she suddenly hissed in pain. At the same time, the translucent dome collapsed and her form shimmered out of existence only to reappear a few feet to the left of her previous position as Trick Art failed as well. Her spatial distortions fading at the same time.

Immediately, Onee-sama cut off the lightning, but not before the woman jerked after being shocked from the blow. Amazingly she kept her feet, though she stumbled drunkenly.

"Heat. You let the heat transfer that passed through the insulating barrier burn me." The woman said in amazement as she grabbed hold of a nearby lab counter to stay upright. She looked quite the mess, her clothes were smoking, her long hair was singed and burns littered quite a bit of her exposed skin.

The injuries were rapidly healing though and she was pushing off the lab counter to continue the fight when she was unexpectedly whapped on the head hard enough to knock her out.

As she fell to the ground in a graceless lump, Kuroko spotted the attacker. Standing over her was Uiharu, holding one of Anti-Skill's electro-riot batons.

"...Uiharu-san, that was awesome." Onee-sama praised with wide eyes.

Kuroko was stunned by what Uiharu had done. She was breathing heavily and her knees were shaking but her partner had just managed to do what she and Onee-sama had been struggling to do for the whole fight in a single daring move.

---

Stop - Disgaea OST: Beautiful Round Dance

---

"Can we save Saten-san now?" The flower wearing girl asked as she collapsed the baton, still looking a bit queasy.

"Let's." Onee-sama said as she cracked her knuckles and stepped towards the door that presumably led to where their friend was. "I want to have words with that stupid kohai of mine."

Following behind the Level 5, the two other girls approached the vault door that led into the next room.

"What's with the door anyways?" Kuroko idly asked.

"It's a secure clean room." Uiharu explained. "These kind of doors are pretty standard for those."

They were a few paces from the door when it swung open of its own accord. A burst of gas escaping from the dimly lit room beyond.

The three girls exchanged a look.

"I guess she's inviting us in?" Uiharu suggested hopefully.

"Then we shouldn't disappoint her."

Onee-sama just nodded and walked into the room, with Kuroko right behind her. Uiharu was bringing up the rear and was just crossing the threshold when she let out a frustrated cry.

"Not again!"

Spinning around, Kuroko saw her partner being thrown back into the lab by what must have been a telekinetic attack. Kuroko rushed to help her but the door slammed right in her face.

"Onee-sama, Uiharu-"

"Will be left out of this." Saten's voice echoed from all around them.

"Guess you haven't fully lost it if you still care for Uiharu-san. That's good." Onee-sama said as she frowned towards the other occupant in the room.

Lying in a pod of some kind on a stage like area in the centre of the room, a large spherical affair with a three stories radius that was similar to an amphitheatre, that was full nearly to the brim with computer equipment from which emerged a maze of cables that all led to the pod, was Saten.

"I'm still fully in control of my faculties." Saten replied. "I thank you for your concern, but I must ask you to leave."

"Not a chance. Not without stopping you first."

"You have no hope of doing that."

"And why's that Miss Number 3?" Onee-sama balled her fists, a challenging glint in her eyes.

"A second rate Level 5 can't beat me."

Onee-sama froze where she stood and ground her teeth, asking sharply. "What did you call me!?"

"It's simply the truth. After Number 4, all the other the Level 5s are in a lower bracket compared to us. I would be worried if Namikaze-san was here, but she is not. Your chances of victory are nonexistent."

"Want to prove that talk?" Onee-sama's eye twitched as lightning arced around her body in her agitation.

Oh this wasn't going to end well.

"If you insist on interfering then you leave me with no choice." With that a massive blizzard of wickedly sharp ice shards flew their way.

Like with Kiyama-sensei's own opening move, Onee-sama just countered it with a wave of electricity.

"This fight is on!" Onee-sama shouted as she launched a lightning bolt back at Saten in retaliation.

---

The lightning bolt struck a pink barrier that easily negated the powerful electric attack.

"You'll have to do better than that Misaka-sempai." Saten taunted. "Though I won't let you."

Mikoto was about to retort but was pulled up short when a wave of nausea suddenly overcame her.

"Ugh! What's with this feeling?" Kuroko said with groan from beside her, apparently suffering from the same thing.

"I don't know, but I'm betting Saten has something to do with it."

"Well, then let's return the favor." Kuroko said with a smirk as she fought off the nausea and reached down to the nails she had holstered around her thighs.

"What?" The Teleporter gasped. "Why isn't my ability working?"

"That would be my doing." Saten gloated. "I'm the [AIM Sovereign], using my power to disrupt the AIM fields of my enemies is par for the course for me."

Mikoto cursed under her breath as she called on her own powers, but everything seemed to be taking twice the effort than they normally did. "Can't fight a real battle huh?"

"Why lower myself to your oh so 'honorable' standards. I fight to win. I always fight to win."

While the two Level 5s bantered, Kuroko was busy focusing to fight through Saten's interference. She announced her success at this with a shout, "Take this!"

At the same moment, a server tower near Saten's location was perforated by dozens of nails, shorting out in the process. Another dozen or so nails appeared in midair next to it however and fell to the floor harmlessly.

"...It seems my aim is off, Onee-sama."

"No duh."

"You didn't think disrupting your AIM fields is the only form of jamming I'm using, do you? Jamming is my forte after all."

"I was optimistic." Kuroko muttered as the wrecked server started to disassemble itself and the components floated into the air.

"Kuroko, dodge it!" Mikoto shouted, as she did the same. With her powers on the fritz, she wasn't confident of blocking the attack on her own. She tried nonetheless and a weaker than usual wave of electricity surged at the incoming projectiles. It took out half of them but that still left the remainder on a collision course for the two of them.

The [Railgun] made it through largely okay, her electric surge had cleared most of the stuff headed her way but Kuroko wasn't so lucky. She had leapt out of the way, but her legs still ended up getting hit by RAM drives and disk fragments that left them littered in cuts. Landing in a rough tumble, the Teleporter hissed as she held her legs in pain while they bled sluggishly from the many wounds.

"Kuroko!" Mikoto shouted in horror at the sight, before she snapped a glare towards her other kohai. "Saten!"

"Did you think you could just walk in here and think this would be simple? This is life, all you do is get hurt, over and over again. You need to take the beating and move on. I think you need that lesson, Sempai. You've lived far too softly."

Just as she said this, Kuroko cried out.

"Onee-sama!"

The [Railgun] felt two hands shove her back, spinning around she was just in time to see Kuroko get hit by a man sized orb of greyish metallic substance - it couldn't have been real metal though, Mikoto would have sensed it if it was - and was sent flying.

The Teleporter fell in a painful thud, soft whimpers coming from her downed form.

"Impressive, she was able to overcome the jamming by compensating with extra calculations to teleport herself. Too bad it took all her concentration to do so. And all to save you Sempai. So dedicated."

"You make all this sound like a game." Mikoto muttered in anger, biting her bottom lip until it bled. Her fists clenched as they sparked wildly.

"Last I checked, Sempai, that was you. Welcome to the real world."

The grey stuff suddenly shifted form and became small pellets that shot at Mikoto. Using what little of her electromagnetic manipulation she had access to, the Electromaster created a magnetic effect that pulled her out of the way of the barrage just as they peppered where she had been standing and exploded in a series of small blasts.

"Are you trying to kill us!?"

"Not at all. If I was, this would already be over. As much as I hate the fact, I have too much experience with killing."

Great! She's holding back and I'm still getting owned! Mikoto grumbled. She set aside the bit about Saten being a killer for now. She could deal with that later. Right now, she had to focus on not being another addition to her kohai's kill count.

Even as she thought this, she was forced to burst into a run as Saten fired off energy blasts at her. Each just missing her by a few feet.

She really is holding back. The Number 5 admitted in annoyance. She's missing on purpose. I can't be this weak! Saten can't be right about me being a second rate! Namikaze was able to hurt Saten, and we are all Level 5s! If that damned Usagi could do it.

"Then so can I!"

Saten didn't seem to agree though as she upped the ante and turned the floor Mikoto was running along into a liquified mess. The Electromaster jumped and using some precise magnetic attraction reached a height that put Olympic athletes to shame.

While still in the air, she spun to face her opponent and with a roar, a electrical blast discharged from her in a burst wave. Wild and free, the arcs jumped towards Saten with primal ferocity.

Only to be negated by the same pink barriers that Saten had used earlier.

"If I can't pin you down directly. Perhaps I can do so in another way."

As [Multi-Skill] spoke, she conjured a large mass of energy over her pod which she then shaped into a arrow like shape and pointed it right at Kuroko.

"Onee-sama!" The Judgement agent called out fearfully at the sight.

"Kuroko!" Mikoto screamed as she used every trick she had available to her to rush to her roommate's side.

Sliding in front of the wounded Kuroko just as the terrible energy bolt flew their way, Mikoto focused with all her will to overcome Saten's disruption of her ability, managing just in time to use her magnetic powers to wrench a pair of large server towers from their housings and into the path of Saten's energy blast.

As the servers crumpled under the blast, Mikoto tossed the remains at her opponent. They shattered the pink colored barriers that Saten were using to defend herself easily much to the [Railgun]'s surprise.

"Impressive! I hadn't expected you would be able to manage the fine control to move things that large with your electromagnetism even while I disrupted your powers, Misaka-sempai."

The Electromaster ignored the other girl, instead focusing on analyzing what had just happened. Her defenses are optimized against my electric attacks. That means she's vulnerable to physical attacks.

Acting quickly, Mikoto used her powers to send a trio of the towers and a host of smaller metallic rubble flying at Saten. The barrage was blocked though by a new crimson red barrier which disintegrated the projectiles on contact.

The older girl noted however that the electromagnetic field she'd used to levitate the projectiles in the first place passed through the barrier unhindered.

Is she only able to optimize her barriers against electrical or physical attacks at any given time? Not both? Mikoto theorised, tensing her body. Time to test it.

"Onee-sama-" Kuroko whispered, struggling to get up.

"I saw it too." Mikoto replied just as softly as she concentrated on what she needed to do. It was going to be a challenge with Saten's ability jamming, but Mikoto was confident she could pull this off.

Firing off a wave of electricity at Saten, her new barriers vanished only to be replaced with the pink ones that her kohai had been using for the majority of the fight. They easily absorbed the attack like they had done previously.

Just like before, Saten immediately counterattacked. This time sending a volley of javelins made out of that strange grey stuff flying her way. Mikoto knew better than to try controlling them with her electromagnetic power, they might look it but they weren't metallic at all. Instead, she launched a counter barrage with a large number of the growing number of debris that was filling up the room. The larger volume of her counter easily deflected Saten's attack with plenty to spare, which continued their deadly arc towards the other Level 5.

As expected, [Multi Skill] promptly switched her barrier to the red anti-materiel barrier. Seeing this Mikoto smirked and launched a lightning bolt at her opponent.

The lightning bolt cut through the barrier with barely any resistance even as the physical projectiles were destroyed and struck Saten's pod. It must have hit something important as the pod and the large amount of machinery around it started to spark and smoke, before they suddenly exploded and threw up a huge cloud of smoke.

"Saten!"

"Saten-san!"

Both Tokiwadai girls screamed in worry for their schoolmate.

Suddenly though the smoke cleared as tendrils of rainbow energy swept them aside revealing something that left them both stunned.

It was a humanoid figure that was at least two stories tall and dominated the whole room. It was a caricature of Saten-san in a red ballroom dress and a pair of matching gloves with her leaning back, her arms spread and her head tilted upwards almost as if gazing skyward in prayer. The thing's hair was a perfect replica of Saten's, complete with her trademark hairclip. On its face, was a blank masquerade mask.

The thing's dress and gloves left its neck, shoulders and upper arms exposed, revealing its flesh. Flesh that was a translucent pink mass that gave it a inhuman quality despite its overall humanoid shape.

At its waist though was something that spoiled the humanoid facade entirely. It was a structure that looked like a large glass dome that protruded from the folds of the thing's dress. It seemed to take the place of the thing's legs, which it lacked entirely. The dome was filled with rainbow energy within which a shadowy figure in the fetal position floated.

From its back, the rainbow energy tendrils from earlier grew out of its back in a poor imitation of wings. This combined with the golden halo that floated over its upturned face gave the impression of a Angel, a pregnant one but still an Angel. Despite that, it looked utterly alien.

"What in the world?" Kuroko said in shock as both of them gazed up at the monstrous thing that Saten had become.

Misaka, wary though she was of this new development, spared her battered roommate a look, only to see her be teleported away.

"Kuroko!"

"It's just us Level 5s from now on, Misaka-sempai." The transformed Saten said in an echoing voice as her new form rose into the air to loom over her.

---

As Kazari flew through the air for the third time in the day due to someone throwing her through the air telekinetically, she saw the vault door that led to where Saten-san was slam shut.

Despite the soft landing, she let out a pained cry. Not due to physical pain, but an emotional one. It was clear what Saten-san was trying to tell her by keeping her from getting into the room to see her.

"Saten-san, you can't face me, can you?" Kazari asked with a forlorn expression on her face.

"I'm sorry Uiharu." Saten-san's apologetic voice echoed telepathically into her mind. "But I just don't want you to get hurt. Could you take care of Kaa-san for me?"

Kazari frowned but nodded.

Putting words into action she walked towards the unconscious Kiyama-sensei and with some difficulty moved her into a more comfortable position.

As she did so, her actions seem to cause the scientist to stir.

"Err." The older woman said as her eyes snapped open. "What happened?"

"You were knocked unconscious." Kazari informed her cautiously, her hand tightly gripping her riot baton just in case.

"I see." Kiyama-sensei acknowledged surprisingly easily as she sat up and leaned against a nearby lab counter, looking around and noticing that it was only the two of them as she did so. "I take it that the others have gone on ahead?"

Kazari nodded before adding, "Saten-san stopped me from following though, and asked me to look after you."

"I see."

Seeing as Kiyama-sensei did not look ready to continue the fight from earlier, the Judgement agent decided to be bold.

"Do you, Kiyama-sensei?" Kazari accused with a glare.

"What do you mean, Uiharu-chan?"

"How could you turn Saten-san, your own daughter, into a criminal, especially after all the terrible things she was already forced to do."

"As I said, we ha-" Kiyama begun the justification that she had repeated what seemed like a dozen times already.

Kazari was having none of it.

"Of course you had a choice!" The girl screamed, looking down as she added in a quiet whisper. "There is always a choice..."

Kiyama-sensei shifted uneasily, before she defensively replied, "Well... we couldn't think of any."

Kazari wanted to slap the woman but refrained, instead she tried a different tack.

"Do you think the other kids would appreciate what you made Saten-san do to save them?"

Again Kiyama-sensei fidgeted awkwardly as she tried to formulate a reply. Before she could come up with anything though, the conversation between the two were interrupted when Shirai-san suddenly appeared next to them.

"Shirai-san!" Kazari called out to her partner in concern.

The teleporter was badly beat up. Her clothes were all torn up and she was covered in bruises and cuts. Seeing this, Kazari rushed over to help her partner.

"Darn it! She's still jamming my ability." The injured girl hissed as she shakily struggled to push herself up from her prone position.

"What did you expect? Disrupting her opponents' powers is Ruiko's speciality." Kiyama-sensei observed coolly.

"Saten-san did this to you?" Kazari asked disbelievingly as she helped her friend into a sitting position.

"Yes." Shirai-san admitted through gritted teeth. "And she teleported me out here too. Right after she transformed into some kind of monster."

"Angel." Kiyama-sensei corrected harshly. "Ruiko must be using her Chrysalis Angel Mode."

"I don't care what she calls it." Kuroko shot back. "All I know is that she's used some power up and is fighting Onee-sama with it. I have to go help her. Uiharu help me up."

"And how do you intend to get through that door? And even if you manage that, how do you plan to be anything but a nuisance in a fight against Ruiko?"

Shirai-san ignored Kiyama-sensei and with Kazari's help managed to get to her feet.

"I could hack through the systems that control the door?" Kazari offered.

"Do it!" Kuroko ordered.

Kazari had just pulled out her tablet to do just that when suddenly a whole chunk of the wall, the vault door included, disintegrated as a stream of rainbow light tore through it.

Peering through the gap that it had made, Kazari made out Misaka-san battling against a strange looking something that hovered in midair even as rainbow streams of energy that emerged from its back whipped through the room as they pursued the Electromaster.

Saten-san!

"Misaka-sempai, seeing this form do you finally realize that you're not as much a top dog as you like to think."

"Do you have a God Complex now? Because you keep talking like you do!" Misaka-san shouted as she evaded the rainbow tendrils. "Besides what the hell have you turned yourself into?"

Is that really Saten-san? Really!? She sounds like some kind of crazy villain.

"I have turned into a creature of AIM. This is my true self, my true nature. I am not just Saten Ruiko, I have not been such for a long time. I am the conglomerate entity of all the impressions I have ever emulated."

"I think Saten-san has lost it." Shirai-san commented.

Kazari wanted to refute that, but honestly considering the things that her best friend was saying, she couldn't.

Misaka-sempai jumped into the air, her fist surrounded by electricity and pulled back to punch Saten-san's strange form. The rainbow things formed a shield to protect Saten-san however, and Misaka-sempai was forced to shoot away with some magnetic repulsion to escape being caught by the things.

"Why the hell are you talking like some comic book villain?" The Electromaster shouted as she flew away from Saten-san's hovering form. [Multi-Skill] let her, choosing to only lazily and halfheartedly send her rainbow colored constructs chasing after her.

Saten-san didn't reply to Misaka-san's question, but she didn't need to. Not for Kazari to realize her reasons anyway. She's behaving this way because that's what she wants us to think of her as.

"Saten-san!" Kazari called out at the top of her voice, walking away from Shirai-san and stepping through the hole in the wall into the battlefield beyond. "Stop pretending! There's no need for that anymore, I understand you now."

"Uiharu, what are you doing?" Her partner hissed worriedly, but Kazari ignored her. She knew what she was doing. At least she hoped she did.

"Do you really think I am pretending, Uiharu?" Saten asked with a bemused tone to her distorted voice. "Does this look like I'm pretending?"

In an attempt to prove her act, Saten intensified her attack on Misaka-san. Her wings which had been lazy and drifting around the large room aimlessly until then, suddenly all zeroed in on the other Level 5. It was only through a series of impressive gymnastics only made possible by expert use of her electromagnetism that the Electromaster avoided being skewered. She was so busy twisting, turning and zipping through the air that she was too busy to even counterattack.

"Yes, pretending." Kazari countered. "If you were really serious, there would be no way that Misaka-san would have escaped that."

The Number 3's only response was to launch another dramatic attack. She conjured hundreds of nails made of some strange grey metal and sent it flying at Misaka-san in a deadly rain.

"Onee-sama!" Shirai-san cried out in concern as she rejoined the Level 1's side.

She needn't have worried. As the Electromaster grabbed hold of a bunch of metallic debris with her magnetic powers and used it to shield her from the attack.

And also because Saten-san let those nails hang in the air looking threatening long enough to give her time to pull that off.

Kazari wasn't going to jinx things though. Saten-san was determined to keep pretending and was committed enough to do that to up the ante in her attacks to do so. She didn't want to risk her miscalculating things when she did so and accidentally leading her to hurting Misaka-san.

Saten-san would never forgive herself if that happened.

Better to change tack.

"That was why you forced us to see those memories and feel your feelings, right? You wanted us to know you, really know you." Kazari argued. "Well it worked. I understand you now, better than I ever have."

This new approach immediately yielded positive results as Saten-san, even her swaying wings, stilled as if in surprise.

"You're open!" Misaka-san shouted as she seized the opportunity that this created and unleashed a chaotic electric storm. Deadly bolts of lightning and a hail of metallic debris of all types flew towards Saten-san's inhuman form. The attack left the Electromaster huffing and puffing, but as the barrage slammed into the distracted [AIM Sovereign], a broad satisfied grin grew on her face.

It won't be so easy, Misaka-san. Saten-san is too stubborn for it to be.

True to Kazari's thoughts, Saten-san tanked the attack. The body of her angel form was covered in burns and cuts but even as Kazari watched, it repaired itself.

"Great! Now it heals too!?" Shirai-san complained under her breath.

"Hax!" Misaka-san said, clearly sharing her roommate's sentiments.

Saten-san seemed to take offense, whether to the attack or to the comments from her schoolmates Kazari couldn't be sure, as she retaliated by causing the whole building to violently shake either via telekinesis or geokinesis. It threw Misaka-san who had still been recovering from her own attack to the ground and out of sight.

"Onee-sama!" Shirai-san screamed as she rushed as quickly as her injured body allowed towards where they had last seen their friend. Kazari let her partner go, she would be of more help in another way.

"Stop trying to pretend you're a monster or some kind of villain!" Kazari shouted, her growing frustration with Saten-san's act finally getting the better of her. "You're none of those things!"

"Aren't I?" Saten-san asked as she turned to face Kazari, no longer focusing on Misaka-san.

That's a relief. Well, here comes the hard part.

"Of course not." Kazari said in as cheerful a tone as she could. "That thing you're using now, it's called the Chrysalis Angel Mode, right?"

"Kaa-san, told you about it?"

Kazari nodded.

"Yes, that's what I call it."

"If that's you as a Chrysalis," Kazari said trying to sound confident, even as she grasped for straws. "Then what do you want to be when you finish your metamorphosis?"

"Uiharu, don't play along with Saten-san's madness." Shirai-san called out from across the room.

Saten-san turned to face her, her wings twisting in the air threateningly. Kazari couldn't lose her focus and so ignoring her partner, continued as if she had not been interrupted. Drawing on what she had been musing about Namikaze-san a few days ago, Kazari continued to try to get through to her friend.

"Do you want to emerge a monstrous fallen angel, a devil, after committing even more terrible crimes? Or do you want to spend the time inside atoning for whatever sins you feel you have so that you can come out as a holy and pure angel?"

"Either way I would be inhuman." Saten-san in a dejected voice.

"I don't believe that!" Uiharu rejected vehemently, before softening her tone. "But even if it was true, why would it matter?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

"Because no matter what you are, you'll still be my best friend!"

Again the [Multi-Skill] stilled. Silly Saten-san. Was it really that big of a surprise?

That was not the only thing that repeated itself however, as like previously Misaka-san was not about to let the opening go without exploiting it. Jumping out from behind the wrecked server towers that she had apparently been hiding behind, she fired off a massive lightning bolt at Saten-san. The unexpected electrical blast tore a large chunk out of the Angel Mode's body, arcing around the orb that contained Saten-san's real body.

Kazari felt her heart seize in fear at the sight and was relieved when Saten-san shook off the attack. She was less happy to see her turn to face Misaka-san and send her flying hard into a wall with telekinesis. Shirai-san, who had been nearby, tried to catch the older girl but was shoved aside by one of Saten-san's wings which proceeded to pin her to the ground.

"I grow tired of your interference, Sempai." Saten-san sounding every bit the villain once again.

Darn it! Kazari cursed even as she pushed her weak body to run as fast as she could.

Slowly, menacingly, Saten-san's by now fully repaired form moved to loom over the [Railgun] who was resting against the wall she had been slammed into looking dangerously still.

Conjuring a set of shackles in the strange grey metal that she seemed to favor, the [AIM Sovereign] spoke with finality. "These should keep you out of the way until I'm done with the calculations."

Before her best friend could attach the shackles around her sempai's limbs, Kazari managed to interpose herself between the two other girls.

"Saten-san. Please stop!" Kazari wheezed out while she fought to steady her breathing after her exertion. "Saten-san, you don't have do this. You're not alone. Not anymore. Together, we can come up with some other way. A better, safer way for you to save your siblings that doesn't hurt you or others."

The angel was unmoved, but Saten-san was another case altogether. Inside the bubble where she was hiding, she uncurled from her fetal position and turned to look Kazari in the eye.

Encouraged, Kazari continued. "You have plenty of friends. Not just me. There's Shirai-san, Misaka-san, and Namikaze-san too."

"Yes, you might be a little crazy." Shirai-san piped in. "But that's par for the course for Level 5s, I guess. It doesn't make you any less my friend."

"Kuroko, what were you saying about us Level 5s?" The [Railgun] deadpanned as she pushed himself back up to her feet, having recovered from her unexpected forceful meeting with a wall.

"Onee-sama, you're alright!"

Misaka-san nodded but kept her focus on her fellow Level 5. "Look, Saten. I don't care what's happened to you in the past. And I think I speak for all of us, even that stupid Usagi… here and now, you're our friend. That's all that matters."

Kazari nodded enthusiastically. "They're right, Saten-san. So as friends we shouldn't be fighting. Let us help us you instead."

The Chrysalis Angel Mode's form wavered.

"But what about my siblings?" Saten-san asked uncertainly, "If I don't use Level Upper how can I save them?"

"Ruiko, don't worry." Kiyama-sensei declared as she stumbled into the room. "We'll save them. We just need to find another way. One where you won't have to risk yourself or hurt your friends."

"But-"

Kazari moved towards the large angel form and put her hand on the dome which held her friend. "Saten-san! Believe in yourself and us! We'll do it!"

Shirai-san and Misaka-san both nodded in agreement.

For a tense moment, nothing happened and then suddenly the angelic form abruptly began to fall apart. Its wings fading away and its body disintegrating. As it broke up, Saten-san fell towards the ground.

Kazari rushed forward to catch her and managed, but was almost immediately overwhelmed by her weight. Before she collapsed though, both Misaka-san and Shirai-san had rushed over to help her. They had both been hurt in the fight though and so weren't at their best, as such all they managed was a somewhat controlled descent to the floor.

"...I'm tired. My brain needs a nap."

At Saten-san's monotone drawl, Kazari's lips wobbled as she let loose a giggle. As it dragged on, it turned into full blown laughter.

Misaka-san snorted as well and laughed a little too. Shirai-san looked at the two in bemusement as she just rolled her eyes. Looking on from nearby, Kiyama-sensei smiled at the friends.

"Let's just get out of here and call Anti-Skill." Said the Teleporter.

---

Light from a monitor reflected off of Naru's blue eyes as she viewed the entire conclusion of the Level Upper incident. She was in a specialised surveillance vehicle that had been disguised as a nondescript van. Its entire interior was lined with multiple screens. Some, like the one she had been watching, had been linked directly to Kiyama's lab's security feed and allowed them to see what had happened as the fight played itself out. Others displayed more esoteric data gathered from specialised sensors that Naru couldn't even begin to understand.

What the blonde did understand was that her sempai was so stupid. It seemed only Uiharu-chan bothered to heed her advice.

"The Superintendent received all the data he needed." A gruff voice said from next to her. Its owner was a blonde man with short and wild hair, which emphasised his strong features. Features that were made intimidating by a spreading black tattoo on the left side of his face. An effect made even more so by his tall stature. This was the notoriously cold Kihara Amata, who was to the point as usual.

His fist banged the wall that separated the driving cab from the rest of the vehicle. "Move out."

As Naru continued to watch the feed of the girls, she felt as though she wanted to step outside and join the group. She had even inched towards the rear door. By now, Saten-chan had taken to apologizing to the others repeatedly, and Uiharu-chan was hugging the girl something fierce.

The knot that settled in her gut had finally loosened and relief washed over her.

Amata raised a crooked brow at her, "You want out?"

Naru stopped her movements, staying in her seat as she said. "No. Let's just go."

The van started moving and Amata chuckled. "Are you going soft over a few test subjects?"

Naru glared at the leader of Hound Dog, Academy City's elite black ops team, and retorted with the force of a tundra as she radiated her killing intent -something that caused the van to swerve as the driver lost control for a moment, but beyond that neither he nor Kihara heeded it- at the man. "Fuck off or I'll kill you, Amata."

Amata just smiled crazily, not even flinching at her threat. As her killing intent ebbed, he said. "There you are, was worried for a second about our rabid mutt."

"I only worked with you a few times, and that was because of Crowley's orders." [Maniforce] said curtly.

"Whatever you gotta tell yourself, [Alien]."

---

It was pretty unbelievable how fast Ruiko was released from Anti-Skill. Level 5s tended to get a lot of leeway when it involved the law, and the Number 3 was perfectly okay with abusing it this time. All it had taken was a few calls to some of her influential 'friends', and Anti-Skill released her after only some light questioning. She hadn't even had to contact her personal backer on the Board of Directors, Oyafune Monaka.

She really didn't want to sit in some cell after all.

Sadly though, her Kaa-san had been arrested and it was going to take a few more calls to her 'friends' and some traded information to get her released. It shouldn't be too difficult to manage though, after all they had been very cooperative.

Without any prompting they had voluntarily handed over the uninstallation program for Level Upper into Anti-Skill's custody. Which allowed the security organisation to quickly arrange for a public broadcast that served to dismantle the Network. As such all victims of the side effects of Level Upper had woken up from their temporary comas, with no lasting consequences.

Too bad the same could not be said for herself. The echoes of the 10,000 Level Upper users would forever be a part of her from now onwards thanks to her ability.

It was a small price to pay however. For despite everything, they had succeeded. Even with all the well intentioned interruptions by first Namikaze-san and then Uiharu and the others, Ruiko had managed to complete the calculations and simulations for a viable method of awakening her siblings. Now all she needed was to arrange for Kaa-san's release and they could get to work.

Now, what's the best way to go about doing-

The Number 3 was distracted from her thoughts when a sudden whistle caught her attention. Turning to the source of the noise, she came face to face with the manic smile of the person who was oddly one of her closest friends.

"Look who went and fucked up their little Level 6 Shift experiment."

"...What are you doing here, Accelerator?"

The boy in question was a skinny thing and pale to the point he could be labelled an albino what with his scarlet red eyes and moppy white hair. Of course she knew this wasn't the case, his physical appearance was merely the result of his powers blocking any ultraviolet rays, thereby preventing his body from producing melanin.

His ability also reduced outside influences so much that it causes a loss of balance in his hormones, giving him a rather androgynous appearance, which if he was someone else might have led to him being poked fun of, but no one was foolish enough to do it.

After all, few, if any, could possibly make fun of the most powerful esper in Academy City and live to tell the tale.

Well, Namikaze-san would be stupid enough to do it, but she was of the few who could possibly get away with it.

He was clad in a black tee-shirt with white V designs going down it and a pair of black jeans and shoes.

"To laugh at you? I mean, you failed, sure, but you did it spectacularly." He brought his thumb and index finger a centimeter apart. "Near epic even."

Ruiko breathed through her nose. He was as itchy for a confrontation as usual.

"It wasn't my goal to become a Level 6. No one can do that as of now."

He looked at her like she was an idiot and laughed in an almost demented way. "Au contraire [Multi-Skill], Level 6 ain't a dream."

With that he began to walk away, tossing a hand over his shoulder. "You can pretend all you want, but your plan still failed miserably. Don't worry though, I'll be the first to reach it. In fact, I'm on my way to an appointment to work on that."

He looked over his shoulder and smiled wickedly.

"After all, the Number 1 is always the first."

For a moment, Ruiko considered finding out what in the world Accelerator meant, but in the end she just shook her head and ignored it. She had more than enough stuff to worry already without the trouble that would certainly come with digging into what was undoubtedly some kind of secret experiment.

With a shake of her head, she turned away from her fellow Level 5 and continued on her way home.

---

...We know, mega chapter is mega huge! Sorry guys, but we just had wrap up the Level Upper arc because we didn't feel the need to break this chapter in half. And even if we did, the next chapter would have been rather short. Plus it took so long to do this one with our schedules. Anyway! Thanks to Nameless as usual for the help and hope we did this arc some justice (Which rains from above)!

Nameless: Yup. I very much hope that the chapter was a good wrap-up to the Level Upper arc. This concludes our first arc, a Saten arc. The next big arc is the Big Spider arc which we are making a Naru arc. I hope you are looking forward to it.

I know Naru's not getting a lot of screen time, but it was clearly Saten's arc, so just be patient guys. We want to show off all our characters and their own character development.

Nameless: For Saten's Chrysalis Angel Mode, we took inspiration from the Persona Juno from Persona 3. Modified of course. Also this form and the bit about Aleister collecting data foreshadows a tie-in with a canon character. Anyone up for guessing who?

As for the title, it's a song of course and it just fit well with how the chapter had angels and such. The whole idea of "Angel with a Shotgun" is about someone pure, or peaceful but is willing to be violent for the sake of whoever the angel is protecting. So symbolism and fitting narrative or whatev it is.

Nameless: As for the fighting in this chapter. We hope it was decent. Two things motivated us on this front. 1) The canon established fact that the first tier of Level 5s outclass the others. 2) That Saten eventually stands down not because she's defeated (none of her opponents in the final fight could pull that off) but because she was talked down and that her objective was basically already reached.

Mikoto's might makes right didn't do anything this time and it was Uiharu's brains over brawn that truly saved the day. Like Naru hinted at, it was a mind game more than anything with this battle.

Hm, what else to say? Well, all I can think of is that I hope you enjoyed our first little installment of this new story of ours and wait patiently for the next arc.

Nameless: Patience will be rewarded. We're publishing this fic, arc by arc, as we finish them. So see you when we see you.

Now smash that review button, no flames, and peace off my peeps!