Any clues at all.

[ACMI3: Bad Mood Over a Cellphone?]

"Misaka! Where are you? Shirai's worried sick." Uiharu's voice came over the phone that the electromaster herself was holding up to her ear.

Misaka looked down towards the floor far below her as she decided how to answer. Eventually she decided on honesty.

"Sitting halfway out a window at the hospital."

"What? Why?" Uiharu sounded worried.

Misaka shrugged "To prove a point."

Who was she proving a point to? Well that required looking at who were in the rooms around her.

The Gekoda-faced doctor had agreed to put GV and Mitsuari in neighbouring rooms. He'd also told her that there was currently a manhunt out for both of them. With his help, she'd set up alarms by the doors into their rooms and with both the windows open, she could stand guard out here.

Plus, it allowed her to be visible. A girl half-outside a hospital window drew attention. Misaka was being safe about it obviously, as she kicked her legs she was hanging on magnetically to things inside the room to stop her from falling.

Misaka was not great at Academy city politics. She didn't have anywhere near the subtlety required for it. She could still be refreshingly blunt though. Add that to the fact she was willing to burn a bit of her reputation to get people moving.

So the rumour was spread, the Railgun was playing bodyguard for a short time and whoever crossed her was going to get it. Shokuhou hadn't even objected when she'd been told what was going on, though she had been surprised when she heard about Mitsuari. She had been fully willing to get the rumour spreading, but Misaka worried about what excuse the telepath would use this time.

She had also filled Misaka in on Mitsuari's grudge (As much as she understood of it at least) so that was no longer eating at Misaka's curiosity.

"Anyway," Misaka turned her attention back to the phone "Can you help sort this problem out? Your skills would be invaluable."

Uiharu sighed over the line "Very well, but you better explain in full."

Misaka was fine with that. She'd been growing past the need to do things on her own by this point. She trusted that the others could stay safe.

She explained the situation. Joule kidnapped, the hunt for the origin of the letter, the guy from ANTIHERO and even Anti-skill getting called in.

"Do you think you could find whoever is holding Joule?"

"I'll do my best." Uiharu agreed "But Shirai will be coming to help you stand guard."

"Thank you." Misaka smiled as the call ended. She pocketed her phone and looked out over the courtyard of the hospital.

In truth, she'd already recruited people to keep watch. Not only the doctor and his staff, but some of her sisters had been undergoing maintenance here. One of them was sitting, seemingly asleep, on a bench in the courtyard.

She'd be able to give warning if any of her sisters noticed something.

The question of why they were undergoing checkups at all was somewhat worrying. Apparently, Last Order had gone missing. None of them seemed too worried as Last Order was still alive but Misaka could tell that they were still on edge.

…They still had trouble feeling things as individuals but Misaka was one of the most adept people in the world at gauging their "Group feelings" by this point.

As she breathed calmly, Misaka reached out with her awareness. She could barely see [it] there in the sky above. It was metaphorical, but clearly visible after the incident during Daihase.

Her sisters' collective mind. Misaka couldn't- and wouldn't- interact with it. But it was good to see it there at least.

There came a sudden beeping from behind her. The alarm on GV's door! Misaka threw herself into the room even as the door slammed open. Misaka went to bring a blast of lighting to her hand but she froze just in time. Not just because this was a hospital and using her powers freely was dangerous but because it was Kuroko that had come barreling in.

"Sis!"

"Kuroko, be more careful." Misaka sighed "Help me reset the alarm at least."

As Kuroko worked, she filled Misaka in. The willingness to call on her friends was spiralling out a bit more than she expected it to.

"Banri and Haruue are searching for her telepathically. Ms Kiyama is checking with her contacts. Lots of people who survived Endymion have also come out to try and find Joule."

It actually seemed strangely extensive as she continued. There were a few people she didn't mention as she went on.

Touma hadn't been spotted helping, neither had Accelerator gotten involved. And the magic side had basically gone silent in Academy City since the war with Russia began. Other than them though, basically everyone who had ever met Joule in a positive way had heard and was cheering.

Misaka opened her mouth in shock "That… spread very fast. I only put out the call for help an hour or two ago."

Kuroko paused to consider but shrugged "Well, everyone wants to help."

Did something seem strange about this?

Misaka looked towards the sky. The thought flickered into her mind but vanished shortly after. The logic Kuroko was using was true enough. No one wanted to see Joule get hurt.

…Huh. Even the kidnappers had promised not to hurt her, hadn't they.

The thought returned to her head. There was something strange about this… but it quickly faded again.

Misaka shivered and she looked back out into the courtyard. The "warning sister" was still sitting there, but she had opened her eyes and had taken out a reading tablet.

What was wrong about this picture? What was telling her that she was missing something?

"Misaka, are you okay?" Kuroko asked. Misaka nodded thoughtlessly.

With a sigh she just noted "I feel like there's something I'm not seeing, but I can't quite figure it out."

Kuroko stepped beside her to take in the view.

"I can't say I feel the same." The teleporter admitted "Sorry."

"It's okay." Misaka nodded "We just need to hope that someone figures out where she is sooner, rather than later."

And so ended the first day of investigations.

End of chapter.

A guest asked in my review if I'd be speeding up the events of this to bring more Gunvolt characters in before July. I won't be. As I lost the way to read the light novels online I can't read any NT stuff yet. Effectively, the moment WW3 ends I'll need to put this story on pause until either I find NT again or wait for a NT anime. I'm going to drag out the time we have while I can.

Anyway, on another note: I am sick and tired of bots advertising art services. They're always named in exactly the same way and their messages are always identical. You're not sneaky. Instead it's just making me not really read any PMs.