Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter Twenty: Give us your best shot, pal. We can take it.
Beta:
The Crows led them to a conference room inside their base and told them to wait. Walking through the building, Mikoto couldn't help but note that it looked entirely like a normal office building. It even had actual office staff who looked shaken by the fighting and were receiving counselling by Anti-Skill staff. A fact that had her both mildly impressed and disturbed by the group's dedication to maintaining their cover.
Ugh, I can never look at anything in this City the same again. Mikoto sadly mused.
A small part of her wished she was still ignorant. But then again that wasn't who she was, was it?
They had been waiting a couple of minutes and while Mikoto was keeping herself occupied building up a head of steam at the Dark Side, Kamijou seemed to have gotten antsy and fidgeted constantly.
"So, pretty crazy huh?" Mikoto brought up, antsiness of her own coming to a head.
"Not really," the boy refuted with a shrug. "I get dragged into stuff like this all the time."
Mikoto honestly didn't know if he was joking and just looked at him incredulously. This caused the older boy to fidget even more intensely and to rub his head sheepishly.
"Really?"
"Yeah." He confessed.
"You have a penchant for trouble I see."
"H-Hey! It's not my fault! Trouble finds me. I swear!" He frantically waved his hand.
"Uh-huh." Mikoto dryly looked him up and down.
"So good shots with your railgun just now." Kamijou complimented in a transparent bid to change the subject.
Mikoto smiled and let him. While she was getting a kick out of teasing him, she did still owe him. So a reprieve was in order. Besides this little segue in their conversation was in a direction that would let her show off a little. The Number 5 wasn't normally one for going out of her way to impress people but when it came to this boy, she found herself making an exception.
"Yeah, thanks. I got a recent upgrade."
"Upgrade?"
"Yep." She grinned, fishing out a handful of her new coins. They were darker than her usual arcade tokens and lacked a sheen as well. "Saten gave me these."
"Eh? The Number 3?" He looked nervous about talking about her. Something that didn't go unnoticed by the girl, "What do they do?" He asked politely, though from the look in his eyes he wasn't really all that interested.
Mikoto frowned, but nevertheless answered. "They're more heat resistant than the arcade tokens I normally use, so they take twice as long to burn up when I fire them. Which means-"
"They give you twice the range." The boy nodded in understanding looking surprised. "Got it. That's pretty cool, actually."
"Yeah, useful." He nodded in agreement.
"Honestly, surprised I got that so easily." The Level 0 whispered to himself under his breath.
Mikoto just chuckled a little at that not unearned bit of self-criticism. The boy had a reputation for being a little dense after all.
For his part, the high schooler didn't take offense at her laughing at him instead just grimacing a little.
"So, um, the Number 3. She's your friend, right?" Kamijou asked warily once Mikoto stopped laughing.
"Yeah? Why?" Mikoto frowned. What was he so worried about?
D-Does he like brunettes like Saten or something?
"Well you see-"
"She's into sadists!" Mikoto blurted out, her face going red at her sudden outburst.
"EH?!" Kamijou cried out in surprise, "What are you talking about?"
Mikoto ducked her head, trying to hide her blazing face.
W-W-Why did I say that?!
"Wait, wait." The boy said as he furrowed his brow in thought. "You mean, and please tell me I'm wrong, that Number 3 likes the Number 1? Even after he almost literally tore her to pieces?"
The spiky haired brunette looked absolutely stupefied as he came to that conclusion.
"Mm." Mikoto squeaked in agreement, not trusting her own voice.
"...Why are you Level 5s so freaking weird?"
W-Weird?! I am not weird! Mikoto fumed, but couldn't help but agree with the rest of the Level 5s.
"First, there's you who's a battle maniac."
"Hey!"
I'm not that bad, right? Mikoto thought to herself weakly.
"Then there's the murderous psycho that's Number 1! And now some masochistic girl. And I betcha when I meet the others, they'll be weirdos too. Seriously, what's wrong with you guys?"
Mikoto winced, that was a accurate and rather damning observation about the three Level 5s, herself included. Considering there were only nine of them, it wasn't painting a pretty picture. Especially when you added in what she knew about the others that Kamijou apparently hadn't met, what with the manipulative [Mental Out] and the murderous [Melterdowner].
I'm way better than them though! The [Railgun] thought as she said, "W-Well yeah, but those are two extreme cases on the spectrum."
"And they're getting together? And no one thinks that's a bad idea?"
"Trust me, we do." Mikoto replied with a long suffering sigh. "We tried talking Saten out of it just yesterday. She wasn't exactly willing to listen though."
Kamijou looked at her searchingly for a moment before nodding. "Stubborn?"
The Tokiwadai student just nodded.
"I know the feeling. But whatever, crazy person or not I still owe Number 3 an apology. Mind telling her I'm sorry for me?"
"What did you do?" She asked, pursing her lips and looking at him suspiciously.
"Hey, hey! I didn't do anything." Kamijou quickly said, "All I know is that I must have done something to offend her, 'cause every time I bump into her she runs away the moment she sees me."
"You must spook her. What with beating up her demented boy-toy." Mikoto harshly snarked. She didn't approve of Saten's choice in love interests. In her honest opinion, the brunette needed someone more grounded and kind.
"I don't think so," the brunette said with a shake of his head. "She's being doing it long before the fight with Number 1. Though maybe that made it worse. She did refuse to get anywhere near me after that fight when I tried to apologise."
"How long have you known her?" She said, her tone a lot more accusingly then she wanted it to be.
"Eh? I don't, not really. I think." The spiky haired youth confessed, looking deep in thought.
Mikoto just quirked her brow at him in confusion. What did he mean by that? He either knew her or didn't. It's not like he had amnesia, right?
"Ran into her a couple times at most." The boy continued at last. "But she left an impression you know. Someone teleporting to the other side of the road to avoid you when you meet them by chance on the street does that."
Sounds like Saten. The chestnut haired girl sighed.
"So apologise for me, would you?" Looking pathetic as he begged, but somehow making it seem adorable.
Crossing her arms, Mikoto looked away and stammered, "I-I guess I can help you out. You're hopeless after all."
"Ha-ha, thanks Biri-biri!"
"D-Don't call me that!" The middle schooler demanded shooting him a glare.
Kamijou just offered her a teasing smile that had her blushing furiously as she looked away.
T-That smile…
Ugh, why was her heart pounding so damn hard?!
A clearing throat caught the two teenagers' attention and Mikoto jumped in her seat. That however paled in comparison with Kamijou's response as he shot out of his seat and stood at rigid attention.
The person who had caught their attention just quirked her brow. It was a older teenager with a slim physique, long straight black hair, and black eyes. She was wearing a tight-fitting bodysuit with gray, white and red details that seemed to be the Black Crow Unit's uniform.
Wait a second, I remember her! Mikoto's eyes widened at the older teenage girl and looked at her more closely. Specifically at the shapely form of her body that couldn't help but make the younger Esper feel jealous.
"Kamijou-san, please have a seat." She said in a no nonsense tone.
"Y-Yes." He nervously said as he complied.
"Now, I'm sorry but I going to have to keep this brief so let me just get to the point." The older girl said, and both Mikoto and Kamijou nodded in acceptance. Considering her people had been attacked, she must be very busy. "My name is Sequenzia Shutaura and I am the leader of the Black Crow Unit, a-"
"A Dark Side outfit masquerading as a legitimate private security organization hired by the City to supplement Anti-Skill's forces." Mikoto cut in with just a hint of rebuke.
Sequenzia narrowed her eyes but nodded. "Number 3 told you that?"
The middle schooler nodded.
Kamijou meanwhile just looked lost. "Dark Side?"
"The City's black ops forces and their operations, basically." Sequenzia offered the boy. "Considering your dealings with it, I'm surprised you don't know this."
"Oh! That! I've just never heard the name is all." Kamijou covered unconvincingly.
Maybe he really does have amnesia.
"Well, whatever the case, I'd like to thank you both for your assistance in the attack earlier."
Both good samaritans perked up a little at the praise.
"That said, despite your abilities you two are both civilians first and foremost." She stated sternly, fixing a glare on them. "So I must ask that the two of you refrain from any further involvement in this Incident."
"I don't think so." Kamijou said, frowning at his fellow brunette, "If I can help, I will."
Sequenzia looked at him in bewilderment, as if he wasn't real. Soon, she sighed in frustration and slammed her hand down on the nearby table, "Listen, and listen well Kamijou. Just because you have that [Imagine Breaker] of yours, doesn't mean you're invulnerable. All it takes is one. Bullet. This isn't a game, boy."
And all Mikoto saw was the boy shrugging nonchalantly.
"When has that stopped me before?"
Shaking her head, her long hair swaying, she turned to Mikoto.
"Now onto you. Just because Namikaze does these types of things, it doesn't mean you should follow in her footsteps. After what happened recently, I would have thought you would keep your head down."
Mikoto bristled. Who was this girl who was barely older than she was to talk to her like that? Like she was just a little kid that needed to be told not to misbehave.
"And who gave you the right to order us to do anything?" Mikoto challenged defiantly, standing to glare at the long haired girl.
"The fact that I'm a duly appointed commanding officer of one of the City's security organizations." Sequenzia shot back immediately.
That took the wind out of the [Railgun]'s sails. As much as she hated to admit it, the Black Crow unit might be a Dark Side group but it was still a totally legitimate and duly appointed organ of the City's security apparatus. Which meant that Sequenzia as their leader did in fact have the right to order them to not get involved.
Kamijou looked as happy with that as she did. None at all. As evidenced by the deep scowl on his face. They both nevertheless agreed with Sequenzia's demand and let her escort them out of the building, all while silently fuming.
On the street outside, the two exchanged a look.
"No way, I'm letting a bunch of outsiders do whatever they want in my city." Mikoto told him firmly. "You in?"
"Yeah. Those bastards attacked in broad daylight when there were plenty of innocent bystanders. There's no way I'm letting people like that get away without a punch to the face."
Mikoto felt her cheeks puff out as she giggled at how gung-ho he was.
"So what do we do now?"
"First step is to hunt those magicians down."
Magicians? Really? Is magic real now? Mikoto rolled her eyes. Those were clearly some kind of constructs created by some weird Esper ability. Should I add delusional to the possible amnesia?
Unaware of her dismissive thoughts, Kamijou continued unabated. "I know someone that might know something that could help us. I'll go talk to her and then call you back to let you know what I found out. That good?"
"Um, I don't h-have your number." She told him, her cheeks pink as she pulled out her cellphone. Her Gekota strap jangling and catching his attention for a moment, making her cheeks turn tomato red.
"C-Cute phone strap." He stammered as he rubbed the back of his head as he took the phone and keyed in his contact details. "Yeah. I never give you my number, huh?"
"Nope." She replied and coughed into her hand, "K-Keep in touch?"
The boy just nodded as he sent himself a missed call from her phone, before handing it back.
"Let's just hope I don't lose this one." He chuckled weakly.
He better not! She heatedly thought.
"Ok, I better get going. My informant is probably hungry by now and I better get her something nice if I want anything useful out of her."
Why does that sound less like an informant and more like a girlfriend? The Level 5 fumed, her eyes narrowing.
"Don't look at me like that! It's not my fault that chibi nun is a glutton!" The boy defended himself with a stream of nonsense.
That said, his reaction had her catching herself and she couldn't help but question her behavior.
Why am I acting so self-conscious? Mikoto thought as she squirmed where she stood.
"J-Just get going already!"
"Right!" Kamijou said as he sprinted away.
The girl meanwhile just stood there for a long moment staring at the number in her phone and smiling pleasantly.
"Hehe!" Mikoto cheered and began walking down the street with a skip in her step.
I can't head back to the dorms. If I did Kuroko would definitely find out about this and demand to get involved. And as much as she knew her friend would only be doing so to help keep her safe, she couldn't bring herself to drag her into this Incident. Partly because she was still guilty about what she'd made the Teleporter do for her during the Sisters Incident - something she'd gotten quite the earful for doing - but selfishly also because she didn't want to share her time with Kamijou with someone else. Not that she would admit it to anyone.
Not at all!
Despite this, she wasn't going to let the boy do everything either. She was a Level 5 and she sure as hell could pull her own weight.
So what if Kamijou had his own informant? So did she!
"Saten, I hope you have something." Mikoto said as she dialed up her kohai.
"Hello, Sempai?" The Number 3 greeted breathlessly as she answered the call.
"Hi. Did I call at a bad time?" The older girl asked, curious about what could leave the younger girl sounding so tired.
"I'm taking a quick break from my self-defense class."
Mikoto was speechless for a moment before she said, "I'm sorry, what?"
"My self-defense class. I'm currently learning Krav Maga."
"Why would you need something like that? And even if you did why only learn it now? I mean, didn't your handlers get you to learn it when you worked for the City?" Mikoto rattled off a string of questions, her curiosity getting the better of her.
In reply, Saten just gave a mechanical, humorless chuckle. One that sent a chill down Mikoto's spine. Her friend only ever fell back on being a robot when she was feeling extreme emotions. And if she was reading the context and tone right… This time she was furious.
"I don't work for the City, Sempai. I work for myself. Besides, it's not like the Dark Side offers lessons to its assets. We're nothing more than disposable tools for the power brokers that set up the various outfits. I'm making up for lost time." Saten ranted in her mechanical voice.
"But that doesn't make any sense! I mean you're a Level 5, why wouldn't they train you to be the best you could possibly be?"
"Of course, they do. But only to do the specific task they wanted out of us. Since we came with prepackaged useful skills like our powers, that's all they focused on developing. For everything else? Well, there were other assets to meet those needs."
That actually makes some sense… Mikoto admitted grudgingly. From the power brokers' perspective why waste resources making a tool all rounded when they could just hire others to make up any shortfalls that it might have.
"Naru-san has it slightly better than most, but even she only received enough training to meet the task she was assigned."
"And that is?"
"Academy City's blunt enforcer."
Mikoto's lips pursed at that, their little friend was far more than some thug!
"And what was your purpose?" Mikoto asked even as she dreaded the answer.
"The City's living weapon. One they could point at their enemies and be sure would leave a trail of destruction it its wake as it eliminated the target."
Mikoto's blood chilled at Saten describing herself like that.
"What use was teaching us how to manage our emotions on the battlefield, to learn useful skills like intel gathering and tactics? So long as we operated fine in our given roles, the penny pinching higher ups didn't care. Hah! Anything we did learn about those things we had to learn ourselves or on our own initiative." Her friend continued, her tone getting ever more robotic as her diatribe got her more and more angry.
Mikoto gripped the phone tightly.
After all they do for this City. They seem to think of them as nothing but tools. Even I'm one to them.
It wasn't fair.
Then again when had it ever been fair?
"So you girls aren't like James Bond?" Mikoto joked weakly, trying her best to bring some levity to the dark conversation.
Saten gave a weak laugh, but one that was thankfully not as stilted as the tone she had been using before now.
"So why did you call me, Sempai?"
Wanting to get away from their current topic, Mikoto took the cue and with a sigh explained the reason behind her call, "A building was attacked earlier. There were these Shaolin monks-"
"Ah, those Magicians. They're from Donglin Temple actually, not Shaolin."
"What?"
"Donglin is another monas-"
"Not that! You mean they were actual magicians?"
"Ah. Yes, magic is real."
And like that, Mikoto felt her world shatter just a little more, made worse by the way her friend just kept rambling on about the mechanics behind the monks' magic.
"Those monks for example were using Idol Theory and their unique brand of magic to materialize certain spirits from the Phases of the world that house the Buddhist heavens. In particular, those Guardian Lions were actual Guardian Lions from the court of the Buddhist gods and those Qilin, those dragon and horse hybrids, and the winged Pixiu were from their preserves. It's a fascinating branch of ma-"
"What the hell! Magic is real? Come on, Saten, don't tease me." Her face colored at the clear joke.
"...Sempai, you know I am not good at 'teasing' you. That's Naru-san's job."
"You sure they weren't just the product of some strange Esper ability?" Mikoto asked desperately.
"No, it wasn't. It's the horseshoe theory in action."
"But-"
"As Arthur C. Clarke said, 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' In this case the inverse is also true, any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."
"Ah." Mikoto replied automatically, still unable to wrap her head around the revelation.
"The quote is not a perfect fit I know. But substitute technology for Esper powers, though those technically are a type of technology anyways, and it works."
"Change of topic!" Mikoto demanded as she felt her head melting from thinking about how to squeeze magic into her worldview.
"Aw! I wanted to see how long I could keep melting your brain." Saten said with an uncharacteristic teasing voice. "I've been looking forward to this oppurtunity for ages."
"Ha ha." Mikoto dryly laughed, "Leave that to Namikaze. Speaking of her, does she know about that stuff too?"
"Of course! Dealing with magical threats to the City is her speciality."
"Then why isn't she dealing with this?"
"She's on another mission at the moment. One with [Melterdowner] and her team."
"But she tried to kill her!"
"She wouldn't dare now. No doubt Naru-san has scared that woman straight."
I don't even want to know what she did. Mikoto shook her head.
"Besides, if she tries anything… I'm always only a couple teleports away."
"You're spying on them?"
"Of course. Naru-san is my friend. She understands me and I will protect her."
"Don't be so proud of that, damnit! We like our privacy you know."
Saten just chuckled.
"Anyways, before you ask I can't tell you the details of her mission except that it's on the Dark Side. Know though that if she wasn't already busy, she'd have dealt with these Chinese upstarts already."
"Right." Mikoto replied uncertainly. She knew the Chibi was powerful, but Saten was implying that she would handily have dealt with those monks and after seeing what they were capable of… Well, the Number 5 wasn't too sure. Individually they weren't that big of a threat, but as a group? She doubted even Namikaze would find it a walk in the park.
"So one last thing."
"Can it be quick? My instructor is getting impatient."
"Right, sorry." Mikoto apologised, realizing that her earlier reaction to the revelation of magic had taken quite a bit of time. "Just wanted to know why you're avoiding Kamijou. Oh! And he apologises if he offended you if that's why."
"He didn't offend me. I avoid him because one touch from his right hand could kill me. I would lose all my powers and since most of my consciousness exists in my AIM body that they maintain, if that happened it could literally destroy my mind."
Well that got pretty morbid. The girl shivered. Right. Mental note: Keep Kamijou as far away from Saten as possible.
"Anything else, Sempai. If not…"
"Nothing else. Have fun, Saten."
"And you take care, Sempai. I'll call you back after my class to tell you where you can find the magicians."
Mikoto blinked, she'd completely forgotten to ask about that.
Before she could thank the other Level 5 for her thoughtfulness, she ended the call. In its wake, Mikoto was left discomforted by all the revelations the conversation had dropped on her. Shaking her head to clear those thoughts, she focused her attention on the problem at hand.
"Deal with these Chinese first."
She could worry about the rest later.
Later that night, Mikoto and Kamijou found themselves sneaking through the abandoned part of the amusement park in District 6 that had been scheduled for redevelopment. Walking through the shuttered section of the zoo area with its lack of lighting and eerie shadows cast by the trees and empty various habitats, Mikoto couldn't help but think she was in some kind of horror movie.
"Are we sure this is the place?" The spiky haired boy whispered.
"Yes." Mikoto hurmpffed. It took a while, but Saten finally provided the location of the Chinese monks. After her martial arts class, her kohai had called her back and given her the intel as promised.
The chestnut haired girl was honestly a little upset that the other girl hadn't volunteered to come help, but was mollified that she would be watching the fight remotely just in case they ended up needing help.
This isn't like with the Number 1. I should be able to handle this just fine. No matter how magical they are.
She still had trouble trying to wrap her head around the fact that magic was real. Or that apparently Saten was familiar enough with it to have developed a dislike for dealing with it. That being the reason she cited for not coming with them.
More Naru's area of expertise, she said. That magicians were scared of the Chibi. The Number 5 recalled disbelievingly. Like real. I'd bet my whole collection of Gekota merchandise that there's more to this 'dislike' than she's saying.
But like so many other things this Incident had brought to light, that was a worry for later. She had some Chinese to introduce to her railgun.
"That's the panda exhibit." Kamijou whispered as he pointed towards a large pit the size of a small sports stadium that they could see the Chinese had pitched a couple dozen tents in. "Looks like Number 3 was right."
"How?"
"Who else would you call for information?" Kamijou said with a confused expression. "I mean she's like famous for being an info broker and she's your friend."
Mikoto blinked. She hadn't thought the brunette had become so well known for her sideline business.
Seeing her confusion, Kamijou put his hands up placatingly and continued. "I only know about her because my friend Stiyl bought a few leads from her once. I promise it's still a secret. Mostly. I think."
"You're not exactly convincing. Now quiet." Mikoto whispered as they got closer to the exhibit.
Kamijou nodded, and promptly tripped on a loose paving stone. He stumbled a few awkward steps before knocking over a signboard that fell to the ground and creating a racket.
Mikoto sent him a glare as his clumsiness had utterly ruined their attempt at stealth. In turn, the unfortunate boy just laughed nervously.
How could anyone be so uncoordinated?
Shouts were heard from below and Mikoto tensed.
In an instant, the magical summons materialized around them. All four of the snarling lions, eight fire breathing Qilin and five of the furious Pixiu - She had done her research on them after Saten revealed what they were - had them surrounded. The monks weren't far behind as they made acrobatic leaps, complete with the odd somersault, out of the panda exhibit.
Mikoto was starting to feel like they were in a bad Kung-Fu movie.
All they needed were subtitles.
"I'll take the summons! I can one-shot them!" Kamijou announced as he as ran forward towards one of the Qilins.
A monk moved to intercept him, but Mikoto was quicker. Her lightning struck the monk that tried to take the boy down.
"麒麟队处理她的闪电! (Qílín duì chǔlǐ tā de shǎndiàn/Qilin team deal with her lightning!)" One of the monks shouted out in Chinese. Immediately, the summons shuffled their formation, with the Qilins galloping forward.
Sadly for them, Kamijou struck one of the Qilins as it moved to the front of the pack. After reflecting on the last fight and her research on the summons, she'd figured that the lightning aligned Qilins could sense and maybe even counter her lightning. Having come to that realization, the two had agreed they were the most dangerous for them.
The duo fell into a pretty good rhythm. Kamijou would charge and take out the summons while Mikoto would use lightning bolts to force any monks that tried to intercept him to back off. Sometimes the Qilin managed to deflect her bolts, but at least they seemed too busy doing that to bother shooting fireballs at her. Plus Kamijou was a lot more prepared for the monks' Kung-Fu this time and put up enough of a defense when he was cornered to buy time for Mikoto to rescue him with a static bolt while the Qilin were still busy discharging.
Honestly of the summons, the dragon horses were the only things that had her worried. The Pixiu weren't a threat, not when they went down to simple static shocks or if the Qilin were on the ball and countered those, a railgun. Even the Guardian Lions for all that they were the most powerful of the summons the Chinese had, were too busy trying to run away from Kamijou to really be a threat.
As the fight continued though, it soon became a battle of attrition. Something that both of them noticed.
"Is it just me or was that the second time I took down a lion?" Kamijou asked as he ducked under the swing of a monk's staff before Mikoto knocked the offending Chinese man out with by throwing a signboard into his face with her powers. "Why the hell are there still four of them?"
"They must have backup idols!" Mikoto rationalized as she fired a railgun at one of the Pixiu that was diving at her. Its summoner had idiotically had it come in at a vector that put a monk - hopefully the stupid monk in question - right behind him, so with a smirk she fired her shot. It easily disintegrated the winged lion and continued towards the monk, but just as it was about to hit its target one of the Guardian Lions jumped in front of him and took the hit.
"That means they're bound to run out eventually!" Mikoto added even as Kamijou took advantage of the lion being temporarily disabled to charge it. The remaining two Pixiu swooped down to try to stop him but he punched both of them into non-existence with his right hand before landing one square onto the just recovered lion's jaw, shattering it too.
Some of them had already run out of backups it seemed, as there seemed to only be a couple Pixiu left, both of which freshly materialized after having just been taken out by Kamijou. The Qilin had taken losses too and only six remained. The [Railgun] had managed to take down quite a few of the monks too, but sadly their comrades had managed to wake them up with some kind of magic. The light show they did every time they treated their downed comrades was a dead giveaway.
Her census on their opposition was interrupted when one of the Qilins bounded out of formation, charging directly at Mikoto. The perpetual blaze that enshrouded its body burning at an unprecedented intensity and instilling a sense of dread in her as it galloped full speed at her.
It's going to self-destruct! Her brown eyes widened in shock before she prepared another railgun round to blow it away.
Her thumb flicked the dark coin, and the streak of orange energy soared at the Qilin. Sadly, one of the guardian lions jumped in front of the blast, taking the hit. As it regenerated through, the Qilin charged through its fellow construct and jumped at Mikoto.
Time felt as though it slowed to a crawl and the Level 5 built a electromagnetic charge around her as quickly as she could. Iron sand gathered rapidly as she shaped it into a makeshift wall at the last second just as the Qilin erupted into a explosion.
The blast was too powerful though and the wall was blown away by the explosion, sending Mikoto flying. She tumbled along the ground and hissed in pain. Thankfully while the last ditch defense hadn't held it had absorbed the brunt of the explosion. That plus the hardened electromagnetic field she'd wrapped around herself had saved her.
The middle schooler scrambled to her feet, but the moment she did, her face exploded in pain as a staff struck her.
Such a blow should have broken her nose and knocked her out, at the bare minimum. But the still intact EM field around her body had saved her from that by acting as makeshift armor.
I better keep this on. I really don't want to get hit by one of these guys outside of it. Their strikes hurt enough as is. Mikoto grimaced which sent a burst of pain coursing through her body from her hurt face.
The monk who had attacked her, looked surprised she was still standing. He quickly shook it off though and twirled his bo-staff to level it at her. With a smirk he came at her once again. With some electromagnetic assistance, the Number 5 used a series of impossible gymnastics to evade the blows.
As she did this, the Esper subtly gathered iron sand.
Dodging left from another blow, Mikoto panted. In contrast, the monk attacking her didn't even look winded!
Kamijou wasn't doing much better as a group of monks had managed to surround him. He looked pretty banged up and Mikoto ground her teeth at that.
"Leave him alone!" She shouted as she judged that she'd gathered enough iron sand to spring her trap.
With a burst of computations and an application of will, a ferric tidal wave exploded out of the nearby aquarium. It towered over them and came crashing down on a couple of monks in its path before reaching back up to its full height and continuing to roll across the battlefield.
"Thank goodness for lazy cleaners." Mikoto mused with a smirk. Almost all of the iron sand had come from the undisposed leftover sand from the various empty tanks in the abandoned aquarium. If they'd been cleared like they were supposed to be… Well, then this would be a lot harder.
Unfortunately, before it could do anymore damage, a monk managed to knock Kamijou right into the wave's path. He tried to get away, but two other monks blocked his path, leaving him trapped.
Cursing, Mikoto tried to move it out of the way in time, but the boy had already held out his right hand. As it made contact with that mysterious limb, Mikoto's trump card collapsed.
"Sorry!" He shouted even as the wave of sand all but buried him.
Seeing the boy stuck, all the monks turned towards Mikoto.
A bead of sweat rolled down the back of her neck as they released a warcry and charged.
The Tokiwadai student flung her hands forward as the clouds above them darkened and crackled.
With a roar, the heavens split and delivered a massive lightning bolt down upon the warrior monks.
Some of the monks saw this and concentrated. In response, all the surviving Qilins reared back on their hind legs, their horns held high as the lightning was drawn to them.
And just like that, her lightning bolt had been grounded.
"不错, 小姑娘, 但你是否真的认为那会成功?" (Bùcuò, xiǎo Guniang, dàn nǐ shìfǒu zhēn de rènwéi na huì chénggōng/No bad, little lady, but did you honestly think that would work?)
They were taunting her, Mikoto could figure that much out. In desperation, she lashed out with lightning bolts she'd generated herself. Bombarding the monks as her mind tried to formulate a new plan of attack.
The Qilin stepped up once more and deflected the bolts harmlessly out of the way, even as the monks and the other summons encircled her.
Mikoto rummaged her pockets for more ammo for her railgun but came up empty, she'd exhausted her supply.
Crap! Now what do I do? Mikoto thought with a nervous frown as the monks and their monstrous familiars formed a tight circle around her.
Come on, think! These guys are trained fighters. They have magical constructs to aid them. What can I do to stop them? Lightning is out as long as those Qilins are around. Wait, they're monks! They're merciful, right? Like in the movies?
It was a real stretch, but Mikoto didn't have much of a choice. Just as they started to begin tightening their encirclement, she fell to her knees and cried out, "Please don't hurt me!"
It hurt her pride a bit, but she tried her best to look as pathetic as possible. Her body shivered and the girl did her best to blink out some tears.
That seem to halt the approaching monks, some even looked uncomfortable while others looked at her resentfully.
"她只是一个小女孩。我们不应该伤害她。我们把她放了吧。(Tā zhǐshì yīgè xiǎo nǚhái. Wǒmen bù yìng gāi shānghài tā. Wǒmen ba tā fàngle ba/She's just a little girl. We should not hurt her. Let's let her go.)" One said while looking at his compatriots hopefully.
"你疯了吗？她是 [轨道炮]! 我们不能让她走！(Nǐ fēngle ma? Tā shì [Guǐdào pào]! Wǒmen bùnéng ràng tā zǒu!/Are you crazy? She's the [Railgun]! We can't just let her go!)"
As they began to argue in rapid Chinese, Mikoto had concocted a new plan.
"够了! 我们不是野蛮人, 把她放了！(Gòule, wǒmen bùshì yěmán rén, Ba tā fàngle!/ Enough! We are not barbarians, release her!)" One of the monks said. He seemed to be the leader as all discussion ended once he'd spoken.
Unfortunately for the Chinese, that was when she finished subtly snaking her iron sand along the ground and into strategic positions. Muttering under her breath, she sprang her trap. "I hope I don't go to Hell for this."
Suddenly, iron sand shot out from behind planters, trash bins and any conveniently out of sight place that Mikoto had been able to stuff it and proceeded to grab onto the monks. They cried out in alarm even as the sand began encasing them while forming tendrils that coiled around their constructs.
Some of the summons managed to rip themselves free and try to charge at her, much to her annoyance, but thankfully she ensnared them again easily enough. Their masters didn't have such luck and none of the monks managed to escape the cocoons that Mikoto trapped them within. Clenching her fists tightly, Mikoto proceeded to direct her sand to begin smothering the kungfu warriors into unconsciousness.
One by one, the constructs began to disappear. A noticeable sign that that she had successfully knocked out the summoner.
Or at least I hope that's what happened. Mikoto fretted as the last of the summons vanished.
"Whoa, nice going." Kamijou said as he finally dug himself out of the pile of sand he had been buried under.
"Yeah." Mikoto breathed a sigh of relief as she leaned against a railing.
Moments later, the Black Crow Unit rolled in on their tricycles with a large spider-like tank taking point.
The hatch of the lead tank opened and Sequenzia jumped out. Her eyes formed into a striking glare as she marched up to the two. Already, the Black Crows were blocking off the area and orders were being shouted in the background.
"What did I tell you two?" Were her first words, there was a clear edge to her tone that promised consequences of some kind, "I specifically and officially ordered you two to-"
Her sentence was cut off as the iron sand cocoons containing the monks erupted into vermillion flames.
Everyone shielded their eyes from the blast.
"W-What happened?!" Mikoto stammered, her eyes wide as the bright light dimmed. The iron sand seemed to have melted together into a misshapen clump that was still glowing yellow from the extreme heat.
Sequenzia clicked her tongue, her eyes narrowed in annoyance, "Just like the ones from earlier in the day. Once captured and with no escape, their superiors make sure they cannot talk or have their bodies be used in experiments."
Mikoto didn't heat whatever the brunette girl said, instead her eyes were locked on the charred and melted body of the monk in the nearest cocoon. The sight was too much for the middle schooler and she collapsed to her knees and began retching.
Mikoto's hearted twisted painfully, I only wanted to capture them. I didn't mean for them to die.
Sighing, the young paramilitary leader bent down to offer the Tokiwadai student's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
"This is why I told you to not get involved. You've been lucky so far in your dealings with it, but the Dark Side is not pleasant place."
In contrast to Mikoto, Kamijou handled things much better. Biting his lip and clenching his fists tightly, he whispered. "I don't know who did this. But one day I'll find them and shatter the illusion that they get the right to kill people."
"Hmph! Welcome to how the world works, Kamijou." The black-hearted City officer told him.
Were these the kinds of situations that Namikaze and Saten had to deal with? It was a shudder inducing thought and the electromaster couldn't comprehend how the two could deal with it for so long.
Once more, she was reminded of how warped their mentalities were.
All the [Railgun] could hope was that she would never end up like her kohai.
All I can do is help them...and try not to drown in this horrible world myself...
Done and done! Thanks to the team of Nameless as always.
Alright, so this was a pretty battle heavy chapter. Hope it was enjoyable to all of you.
I really enjoyed the interaction between Mikoto/Touma/Shutaura because they are fun to write about. The combination of Shutaura's bluntness, Mikoto grumpiness, and Touma's Toumaness is a blast. Now if only Naru was there as well, things would have been funny.
The monks did pretty good work on the two, but it wasn't enough to take on Touma and Mikoto. Sure, they had a strategy to defeat them, but the two were just able to take the blows and fight back. The kungfu monks also just had some bad luck. I mean who puts an aquarium nearby the pandas? Truly, zoos are a danger for all. Leave it to Academy City to cheap out on a zoo of all things.
Nameless: So a couple of reviewers were misunderstanding what it means to be a Dark Sider. It seems they got the impression that Dark Siders are all rounded Special Forces operators or super spies like James Bond. However, from what we can deduce from canon this isn't the case. And you guys should know by now that we're trying our best to keep to it as much as possible. Anyways, our interpretation is that Dark Side outfits, outside of paramilitary groups like Hound Dog and the Black Crow Unit, don't actually bother to train their members much if at all.
I mean just look at how unbalanced every canon non-paramilitary Dark Sider is. Do they look like they went through training to keep a cool head when they go on missions and are liable to see disturbing stuff? Plus don't they all seem like one-trick ponies centred around their abilities? Well, you can guess our answers to that. From there, we extrapolated that the higher ups in the City want them to exactly be this: unstable, untrained tools for specific purposes (which thus limits their abilities as a whole). They probably think it makes them easier to control or is part of some experiment that Aleister is running.
It also saves them a pretty penny because training a James Bond type spy (if it's even possible) or Spec Ops operator is expensive. It's probably much cheaper (from their short sighted perspective of seeing the Dark Siders as throwaway resources) to just hire whichever outfit(s) best fits their needs at the moment.
Plus, there's also the time factor to take into account. Every Dark Sider either has a Esper power, Magical ability or unique skill that they need to hone and refine all while (in most cases) maintaining a cover identity as a student to some extent or other. Where in the world would they find the time to diversify their skills?
E4E: Yeah. Literally all I can say since Nameless said the entire spiel.
You know what to do, smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps.