The backup
[ACMI: Confusion]
"So then..." GV pondered aloud as they left the park "What's the lead you were going to look into?"
Shokuhou put her hand to her chin, miming deep thoughts as she explained "As that high-rise was playing host to some quite amoral experiments, it's likely they kept off-site backups for reasons just like what is happening tonight. Let's... have a look, shall we?"
"Did Kuriba know?"
"Of course she did." The Mind Reader remarked "But she doesn't know exactly where it is. The backups are kept on a mobile facility, an airship, and it's route is hidden. I want to do some poking around to... see what turns up."
The two walked in silence for a bit, making their way back towards the tower from before. Of course it had some more security now. It looked like there were some members of Anti-skill hanging around outside too.
Shokuhou just shrugged and made the guards ignore GV and herself as they both headed inside and up to higher floors. They had to break through some security messures that had been set in place to stop the doppelganger but GV was capable enough to do that.
When they found a scientist, Shokuhou scanned their mind and scowled.
"That's annoying. Let's head back outside though."
As they walked, she filled GV in.
"The backup's airship is full of tech to make it harder to find, and it only is in a known location once per month when it exchanges information via laser. It hasn't landed in over two years at this point."
"And where and when will it next exchange information?"
"A random facility somewhere in the city, and about two weeks from now" She noted.
...
"Huh."
So... it wasn't relevant?
"Regardless." Shokuhou continued "We shouldn't ignore it. The Doppelganger destroyed the data originals, it might also target those backups too. It went out of its way for that so it clearly matters in some way."
Stepping out of the building, still hidden from the guards' sights, Shokuhou walked to a bridge nearby. She called Misaka to fill her in on what they'd found.
Misaka had run into both Kuriba, the Doppelganger and some members of Judgement so far so it seemed like she was doing somewhat well.
At the end of the call, Shokuhou looked thoughtful.
"From what Misaka said, it seemed the Doppelganger could indeed control things if its body was damaged." She repeated "But based on Index's information, that shouldn't be how it works."
There were two ways to read this then: Either this was magic that Index somehow didn't know about, or that this wasn't to do with the soul at all and it was the workings of science.
"If only I could check some of Kuriba's earlier work." She muttered "But the computers storing that data were destroyed."
GV thought about it.
"Does Academy City have a Civilian Archive?" he asked "Something which stores the non-secret research that's done? Kuriba's old work would be there."
Shokuhou nodded "Yes, but it's not typically open this late, of course that won't be a problem for us though."
The two of them headed off, Shokuhou grabbed a taxi and put the driver under her control to ensure he couldn't hear them continue to talk in the back of the car.
"If it's science-" GV wondered "Then why make it look like Kuriba's belief about how the soul works?"
Shokuhou pondered the question "What are the resulting actions? Kuriba and the scientists- if the latter learns of it- will make future actions under that belief. What action would the Doppelganger want them to take then?"
"To panic?" GV remarked "It seems the most obvious."
"Yes, but panic is rarely a means to an end." she replied "It's either a delaying strategy, or a way to make the panicking party make the wrong choice. I believe it's likely to be the latter in this context so the question comes back to: What choice is she pushing for?"
There's an old stage magician's trick, the forced card. GV remembered Zeno playing around with it once back home when they were playing old maid. You could offer someone a hand of cards and make them pick the one you wanted them to in a few ways. So in this case, what card was the Doppelganger offering to the real Kuriba?
"Do what I say, otherwise I'll use my soul to destroy the city?" GV guessed "A threat?"
"Possibly." Shokuhou agreed "It still doesn't get to the heart of what it wants though, we lack the information to deduce that."
The Taxi arrived at the archive and Shokuhou brushed in with a few remotes pressed. GV hacked the doors open as they headed deeper in once Shokuhou learned the sorting system.
She needed to brainwash one of the late night library staff members who happened to be in the room. She just left him to one side as she and GV climbed up the stairs to the right bookshelf.
"Here." Shokuhou remarked, finding a set of large tomes "Written copies of her research."
She began pulling them out and handing them to GV. With a roll of his eyes, he took the three of four large and heavy books as she passed them to him and brought them to the table in the center of the room where they could get started reading.
As they started to read, a call came from Misaka. Shokuhou left it on speaker phone so GV could hear.
"Hey, so the Doppelganger is going towards a radar facility. And it seems to have developed long range telekinesis. I think we may need to reconcider Index's information."
"The first makes sense." Shokuhou replied "With all the equipment at the radar facility, it could be possible to reveal the airship."
"But what reason would she have to do that?" Misaka asked.
GV looked over "Our best guess is that she's going after her backups for some reason."
Shokuhou sighs "The question is if it's a bluff. If she's faking that soul control buisness, then that wouldn't be the goal."
"What if she isn't faking?" Misaka asked, a little desperately "We can't treat it as a bluff, because that would just mean that we would be letting her destroy academy city."
Shokuhou made kind shushing noises "None of us were sugesting you ignore it Misaka. Just keep it in mind and try to look for other possible motives."
"What are you two doing anyway?"
"Looking through Kuriba's old work." GV commented, flipping through pages "We'll tell you if we find anything useful."
As the call ended, the two of them focused on their reading.
End of chapter.
I hear that the email alerts are working again, that's good.
Index's information helps them figure out that it's not as it seams earlier than canon, but they can't exactly assume that the enemy is bluffing just because of that.
Imagine if someone was walking around with a mysterious machine and yelling that it was a bomb. Even if you were fairly sure it wasn't, you couldn't be 100% sure so you'd need to be careful.
