A chain of clues
[ACMI2: Fake]
The trio took the above ground train network to their next destination. Misaka looked out the window as the city passed and Mitsuari was checking her phone white GV was keeping his eye on the other passengers.
Any of them could be an agent sent to tail them.
"Do you think we'll find Joule like this?" Misaka asked carefully as she looked back at GV "I'm worried that they could cut us off somewhere, destroy evidence or the like."
GV nodded "Well, at the very least the path we're following now will lead to whoever wanted the letter sent, they should have a connection to the kidnapper that Mitsuari will be able to get out of them. The only thing that could cut us off would be total destruction of the evidence."
Mitsuari nodded casually "I can't get much out of someone if they're dead."
Glancing back out the window, Miskaa carefully asked "Do you really think they'd do something like that to one of their own?"
"Yep." "It's likely."
Both of the other team members agreed on that point. This was the dark side of academy city after all. Nothing was sacred.
In fact, if you told most dark side scientists that something was sacred, they'd probably desecrate it for their own amusement.
They were up against a soft was possible that somewhere along the line, plans had already been put in place to deny them a way forward. They just had to hope their powers were enough when united to figure out the tricks that would be used to obfuscate the path.
Getting off the train at district 1, they made their way towards the office of the person the dorm housemistress had directed them to. Previously they had been interrogating a friendly face. At least relatively friendly.
This time though, they could be going into a dangerous position.
"The less laws we break, the less attention we'll attract." GV noted "So we ask for a meeting with her first."
That said, as they spoke to the building's receptionist, they asked after the name they'd been given. She was part of the finance department of Academy City and was currently in a meeting.
…The receptionist likely wouldn't have told them the room number and given directions if not from a push from the team's mental stinger though.
Interrupting the meeting would cause issues, so the team just found a bench to sit on nearby the meeting room while Mitsuari obscured them from the memories of people who were passing by.
Three students with two of them wearing Tokiwadai uniforms in a government building during school hours would probably cause a stir.
The three of them waited in quiet tension as they sat there. They didn't want to risk talking, just in case they were overheard. Misaka had shorted out the cameras looking at the bench but she and GV might have missed something.
GV checked the time on his phone and at last opened his mouth "It's been a while. From what the receptionist said, she should be out by now."
"Maybe the meeting is just running long?" Misaka suggested hopefully.
Mitsuari stood and walked over to the door before holding out her phone like she was taking a picture of herself, the door behind her. She posed and there was a clicking sound before Mitsuari walked back and shook her head.
"They are all still in there. I can do some more to try and distinguish her. Or… I could just do it the faster way."
GV nodded "It might be for the best at this point."
The faster way was Mitsuari just hacking their minds from out here.
"I may lack range compared to… her." Mitsuari muttered "But range over what is required isn't necessary."
She tapped away on her phone and put it up to her ear. She didn't speak but GV could tell from her face that she was concentrating. She licked her lips and nodded a few times.
GV waited until she stopped "Have you gotten something?"
"Several things." Mitsuari noted quietly "But I'm afraid there's a problem."
"What sort of problem?" Misaka asked.
GV predicted it before the answer was given "Was this a trap?"
"Of a sort." Mitsuari agreed "She was told to stay in the meeting and not talk to anyone. The message was given by a person working for the Dark Side and that same person told them that they'd arrange for people to capture us."
Glancing out a window, GV shook his head "How though? Stopping the three of us should be impractical. Drones don't work on Me or Misaka and human agents wouldn't work to stop you."
"The memory doesn't specify." Mitsuari noted as she stood. GV and Misaka quickly followed her up but GV led the way, but not the way they came.
"Where are we going?" Misaka asked.
GV pointed up "The roof."
"But why?" Misaka asked, "You just pointed out how they can't stop us."
"I partially agree." Mitsuari agreed "While I suspect they may be up to something, we should still be able to go through the front door."
"If they believe they can stop us despite our powers, they probably have something in place." GV guessed "AIM jammers maybe, to be used at the last minute to trip us up. If those jammers have been set up, there are two places they'll likely be."
Here, Misaka caught up with the concepts and charged ahead mentally "Either the roof, where we could sabotage them, or away from the building and would have had to be angled specifically to block off certain areas."
GV nodded "In either case, going to the roof allows us the chance to figure out what their move is. Mitsuari, how did the person from the Dark side contact the woman in finance?"
"A home phone call, then the letter itself was faxed to this office."
"Who still uses a fax machine?" Misaka asked on impulse. Mitsuari was able to answer though.
"They're not too uncommon in government or legal offices. I think I saw the one she got the faxed letter from on our way up to the meeting room."
"Then we'll have to head down that way to search its stored information for the source of the fax on our way back down." GV confirmed.
As they stepped out onto the roof though, they realised that someone else had beaten them up there.
End of chapter.
Hmm. Not my best chapter, I didn't even give a name to the person they were here to interrogate. I didn't really have to though as they weren't going to meet her in person.