Chapter 47: Jeopardy
---30th September 6:40p.m.---
A white haired boy with red eyes was walking through the underground mall with his tonfa cane in his right hand. This boy had recently been discharged from the hospital and was searching for a lost child in the mall.
His name was Accelerator.
He was searching for a certain girl called Last Order.
Until he received news from Mitsuari who called him using his phone number.
"Accelerator-kun, we have Last Order☆"
"Is that so?"
"Yes, from the sounds of your background, I take it you're at the underground mall as well?"
"Yeah, if you have the brat, just go home. I'm coming back now."
"But, I was wondering if we could go out and grab dinner since lunch wasn't so appetizing, you know?"
"Tch, we can have dinner another time, Yomikawa isn't home as well, is she?"
"Ah, that's right. It's raining right now as well."
"All the more, you should bring the brat back home."
"Then shall we meet up? Because we're at the exit of the underground mall."
"No, the brat will probably be running around since it's raining. She's a kid as well, so all the more reason for her to run around."
Accelerator's cane made a metallic thud after each step he took. He was also finding the exit, but since it was an underground mall, there were many exits that he could go out from, and many exits for the both of them to go out from as well.
"Also, is 'she' there as well?"
"If you're talking about Ester-chan, then yes, she's playing around with Last Order."
"Haaa...yeah, I'll see you all back at home."
Before Mitsuari could utter another word, Accelerator hung up the call.
---------------------
"Hey!! Hey wait!! Tch, he hung up the call."
Mitsuari was standing at the exit of the underground mall. From where they were, the exit they were at was the furthest from the apartment.
"We're on the opposite side of where we're supposed to be. Well, I guess our plan to invite him out for dinner failed."
"Oh..."
"Well I guess that means we're heading back. Come on, let's go Last Order."
"Oh...but Misaka wanted to eat out with him like last time, says Misaka as Misaka reminisces about the old times."
There were three girls there, Mitsuari Ayu, Ester and Last Order.
"Anyway, how long have you been with him Last Order?"
"Ester and I have been with him for one month already!! Says Misaka as Misaka puts up a peace sign!"
"One month only? How can you guys be so attached to him already?"
The three of them were strolling back to the apartment as they walked under the cold, wet rain. Every drop of rain felt like death as it was freezing them, and unfortunately for Mitsuari, she was in her summer uniform.
Many of the students from different schools were already in their winter uniforms, but she was no longer a student of Tokiwadai, so she had to endure the cold rain in her summer uniform.
As for the other two, they were cold, but they didn't let it show on their faces or body.
"He's very kind despite how he appears. At first, I wanted to learn from him, but overtime I realized that he was in a different world compared to me." Ester was the one who replied to her.
"?"
Mitsuari raised one eyebrow as she looked at Ester who was smiling just thinking about him.
"He was very mean towards everyone, and even if I were to offer up assistance, he would never let me help."
"That sounds more like an asshole to me." Mitsuari replied nonchalantly as she looked away.
"It does, doesn't it? But it was only because he didn't want anyone else to get hurt, so he puts others first before himself. That's why I can never help him even if I wanted to."
And then there was a slight pause in her words before she continued.
"I owe him a lot."
"..."
Mitsuari had nothing to say to her as she could not understand her. To someone like Mitsuari who lived a lie, everyone and their feelings was fake.
You could call it an exaggeration.
But to her, it was reality.
Everyone was a pawn on the surface of the earth.
Only people with outstanding abilities like Accelerator had the privilege of being a special piece on this board, while protecting the Chairman of Academy City.
Losing him would make Academy City lose a lot of points and advantage on the board. While pawn pieces like them, were insignificant to the bigger picture.
Losing them meant nothing at all.
"Well, it's nice isn't it?" Mitsuari asked as she continued looking forward at the dark road.
"Hm?"
"To have a family you can rely on."
"Of course. You're also part of the family too, Ayu-chan."
Ester went beside her as she held Mitsuari's hand and showed her a smile.
Right now, Ester was shining the most in the dark road ahead of them. Since it was almost past the curfew for many of the students in Academy City, so the street was empty. There was no one in sight.
"Misaka will also welcome you to the family!! Says Misaka as Misaka offers a high-five of friendship!!"
It took her a moment of hesitation before a clap rang out in the dark streets of Academy City.
"Thanks." Mitsuari never felt the warmth of a family for so long now. Even if she was freezing under the rain, she felt warm on the inside.
"(How long has it been, since I've felt this way...)"
Her fluffy hair was slowly drooping under the rain, but the curls could still be seen as they continued onwards in the dark.
Last Order was surprisingly well behaved despite what Accelerator mentioned. Maybe it was because Ester was holding her hand or maybe she just lost the energy to run because he wasn't around.
Whatever it was, there was only silence under the night sky.
Until they heard the engine of a car behind them. Or actually, they heard the sound of it's erratic driving behind them as its screeching got louder and louder until they turned around and saw a jet black van approaching them at full speed.
"(What?!)"
Ester grabbed Last Order by her waist as she pushed Mitsuari away from the car approaching them.
"We have to run now!!"
It could have simply been an accident on the driver's part, but Ester was quick to realize something. The headlights were off. So it meant that the driver was ready to ram them with the van.
In addition to the headlights being off, there were signs that the license plate had been forcibly changed, the airbag showed no sign of deploying despite the impact being strong enough to smash the windshield, and the keyhole on the door showed signs of having been forced open, suggesting the black van was stolen.
A man dressed in black was groaning in the crushed driver's front seat. He wore an armored outfit of some sort of special forces and had a knife-proof mask that covered his entire head. To finish it off, he had thick goggles like those of a skier covering his eyes.
"(But why would they bang the only car that they had?)" Ester pried into her mind to guess what the assailants were thinking of, but her questions were soon answered as three more of those black vans showed up.
From the back of the van which had crashed, two men appeared from the door wearing the same gear as the driver. They aimed their weapons at them after a 'chk chnk' sound was made.
"(Tch, we're surrounded. Shit, I forgot to bring my talismans...)"
The vans had them cornered on the left side, right side and even the center and gun barrels immediately poked out from the side of the vans.
"Ester-chan, what do we do now?"
"I'll find a way out of this. So calm down."
Mitsuari was on Last Order's left side while Ester took the right as they had their arms crossed over each other in front of Last Order.
Ester was praying that they didn't shoot, and fortunately they didn't.
"Take Last Order and the Tokiwadai girl, kill the blonde."
A male voice came from the center of the van. A man in black was kicked out of the back sliding door of the van that was still sitting open. Afterwards, a tall man wearing a lab coat sluggishly appeared from within. His expression showed no sign of damage. Despite being a researcher, he had a tattoo on his face. He wore mechanical gloves with a detailed form on both hands. They were known by the ridiculously long name of "micromanipulators". As the name suggested, they were delicate pieces of technology that allowed the wearer to perform sensitive work on the scale of one-millionth of a meter.
Mitsuari knew who he was. She frowned ever so slightly, but she also felt a tinge bit of fear from him.
His presence was probably scarier than Accelerator himself.
The people who destroyed her childhood did not come close to the menace of the person in front of her. If she was captured by this person, her life would probably be in even more disarray than it was.
His name was Kihara Amata.
"W-What does a Kihara want with us?!"
"Hm? Oh, I just wanted to perform a few tests on you and find measures to counter the Mental Out. It seems like the 'counter' that we thought would work fucked up so we gotta find new measures. You know how it is."
Something snapped in Mitsuari as she broke formation and climbed past the fence separating the two of them to attack Kihara Amata.
"You take that back, you bastard!!"
Her fear of him was gone as she showed him a deadly gaze, but it did not scare him.
She threw a right hand at him, but he caught it easily and he just slapped her in the face.
"Behave yourself, guinea pig. You're far from the Mental Out, you won't become her, and you're just a waste of human life."
Amata went close to her face as he widened his eyes to stare deep into her soul, but she could not even look at him as her face remained in the same position from when he slapped her. He towered over her. It was like a giant looking at a goblin.
"Get back in line."
He lets her hand go as he kicked her so hard that she went back to the fence with a small groan.
"Tch, leave her alone!!"
Ester pulled Mitsuari behind the fence as she made her stay beside Last Order. But Mitsuari was completely broken as she slumped down against the wall.
"Are you okay?! Asks Misaka as Misaka checks on you."
"..."
However, she did not reply.
And that infuriated Ester as she glared at him with a frown on her face.
"You will regret that!!"
"Fire."
Gunfire rang out around them as the gunshots flew past Mitsuari and Last Order and right into Ester as she tried to jump the fence, but she was shot in her legs and torso, with a bullet grazing past her neck.
"Gahhhh...!!!"
Ester dropped to her knees in front of Amata as she struggled to get up.
"That's good!! You can at least entertain me for a while!!"
Without a moment's hesitation, he rushed her while driving his fist back and then he unleashed it on her, but she was quick even with those injuries.
She ducked down before grabbing both of his shoulders.
"Ah?" Amata looked confused for a second, but he simply smiled the moment he figured out her move.
She tried to drive her right knee inside his stomach but he simply used his left hand to block the driving force as he delivered a straight punch to her face using his right fist.
And she flew back to the fence.
He didn't give her time to react as he rushed in for a follow-up attack. He tried to swing his right fist, but she ducked yet again.
This time, he was ready to receive her.
He drove his right knee into the side of her face and her head hit the metal railings, making a 'clank' noise as her head slowly fell, but he wasted no time in delivering the next one.
"GYAHAHAHHAHA!!!! How is it?! Can you stand up again?!"
She couldn't.
The answer was simple.
She couldn't.
Her blood was flowing out as she endured the beatings from him.
"Stop it!! Says Misaka as Misaka tries to protect Ester!!"
Last Order was having her small hands smashed into Ester's face as she interlaced her fingers.
Then the world of pain stopped as he looked at the other men in black.
"Oi, what are you good-for-nothing's doing? Grab those two."
He pointed his index finger at Mitsuari and Last Order who were both in shock. About 10 of them came out of the vans altogether as they ran at the both of them.
"Stop."
The voice didn't come from Mitsuari, but from the voice below Amata.
"Ha?! Ya still got the energy ta talk?!"
He tried to knee the side of her face again, but she simply moved her head away and his knee came into contact with the metal railings.
"Shit!!"
Ester took that opportunity to quickly try and sweep him off his feet. But a smile appeared on his face as he eyed her from the top.
"Just kidding!!"
He stuck his tongue out teasingly as he placed his hands on the metal railings and jumped. Her leg just barely missed it's target, and when he landed, he stomped on her feet.
"Kah..."
"Tch, scream!! Cry!! Come on!! I'm literally beating the fucking shit out of you!! Fucking cry or something!!"
He went down from her legs as he delivered a putt straight to her face, and it knocked her out.
The pain from the bullets made her body weaker so she could not physically keep up with him, thus she had lost.
"Well, she's out cold. Tie them up and bring them back. I'm gonna find that brat."
The soldiers quickly surrounded them with ropes as they knocked the struggling Mitsuari and Last Order out using the stock of their rifles.
Suddenly, one of his soldiers informed him of something.
"Umm...sir. I think Accelerator is coming here."
Kihara looked at his soldier with his back still slouched lazily as he raised a single eyebrow.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Then his soldier showed him a conversation with Accelerator using a red handphone with a touchscreen function.
"I found this in the girl's hands a moment ago."
Kihara Amata's face showed a look of annoyance as the side of his lips lowered themselves.
"Tch, quick. One team bring the test subjects back, two teams follow me. I don't care which one, just make it quick."
"Understood!!"
The center van was used to store the three girls inside probably because it had the easiest escape route, but if Accelerator was to come from the way that the headlights was pointing, it would be unlucky for them.
But fortunately, it wasn't them that was unlucky. It was him instead.
How did they know?
Well, the van behind the carrier blew up.
And Amata sighed as he slowly showed himself from the side of the van to greet him.
"Well, took you long enough to come eh, Accelerator?"
"Heh, what kind of fucking sick prank are you pulling KIHARA?! HA?!"
Under the rain, that white haired boy with red eyes stood there holding a takeaway bag from a fast restaurant. The bag was so big that its contents could probably feed 6 mouths. And Mitsuari was the last person to be lifted onto the truck, and partway through, she saw him as a smile appeared on her face.
"ACCELERATOR!!!!" She shouted before she was shoved in and knocked out again.
"Grrr...Kihara, here to bring us back inside the dark side?"
Kihara Amata, the person in charge of developing the strongest power in Academy City's strongest Level 5.
That meant he was one of the most skilled esper development researchers in Academy City.
"I didn't mean to drop by on such a short notice. You know, the higher-ups called for me so I had no other choice. Something about it being an emergency situation so they have to use every available option. Sorry, but...how bout you just let me kick your ass here?"
The moment he said that, the van drove off. Leaving Kihara and the last 2 teams with him and the rest of the soldiers amounted to 12 in total.
Kihara Amata was also one of the researchers who was afraid of Accelerator but it was for the wrong reason.
"And anyway, who do you think it was that brought up your power?"
"Ah? What? Was that a line filled with duty and sympathy? Don't tell me you think I'm the type of person who would return a favor. That's just stupid. And, y'know..." Accelerator brought his left index finger to his temple and twirled it in a circle.
"If you're gonna act crazy, go do it on your own. I don't have enough fingers to count how many researchers fucked with my body. Do you think I had any reason to remember you specifically, Passerby A? I never gave you a second thought, so get lost."
"You really are an annoying little shit, you know that?"
Kihara wrapped his arms around his shoulders as if he was feeling cold.
A smile appeared on his face.
"I wanna kill you. I wanna kill you so damn bad. To be honest, I've always wanted to smash in that face of yours so bad I could barely stand it. But you were my research specimen and, more importantly, you were a kid. A terrible little brat, but a kid nonetheless. That just barely allowed me to hold back. But I shouldn't have. I really should've killed you back then. Ahh...I fucked up. Ah ha ha. What was I thinking?"
As if he was inviting back a lover, Kihara opened wide the arms that wore the gloves for super delicate work that were reinforced with small motors and electrically contracting artificial muscles.
He approached defenselessly.
The edges of researcher's lips twisted up.
"So I'll just have to kill you now, you damn brat."
"I can say the same to you, you fucking piece of shit!!"
Accelerator threw the bag and his cane as he launched himself towards Kihara Amata while manipulating the force of the vectors in his leg.
He was going in a straight line towards Amata. But the researcher simply stood there with a smile across his face.
This time he was looking the monster in the eyes.
"(What is this idiot thinking? I'm gonna fucking burst his head open with this.)"
The moment Accelerator came within reaching distance of him, Amata simply pulled his arm back.
"(Heh, did he forget what my ability was?)"
But Accelerator was shook to his core.
Literally.
The fist wearing the detailed metal glove flew towards Accelerator's face and it tore his skin and shook his skull.
"Gah...h...!?"
The unexpectedness of the strike caused even more of a shock to his brain.
The switch on his choker-shaped electrode was on.
His reflection was active.
In that state, he should have been left unscathed even if he detonated a nuclear bomb he was currently carrying.
And yet...
For some reason, the vector reflection had not worked at all.
"Y'know..."
As his consciousness wavered, Accelerator could hear Kihara Amata's voice. It was the disappointed voice of someone looking down on another human being.
"I never gave you a second thought either, brat. Don't act so damn spoiled just because you have a bit of power. Let me say it again: Who do you think it was that gave you that power? Well, do you remember now?"
Accelerator was lying on the ground as his body squirmed about.
Before Accelerator could respond to anything, Amata's fist flew once more.
An odd noise came from the glove.
It was a strike coming down from above like he was swinging a hammer. Once again, the reflection was meaningless. When the powerful strike hit his head, Accelerator collapsed onto the wet road.
He was literally being abused.
That was not something one can casually say about the top dog in Academy City.
He was absolutely being devastated.
"Y'know, I was always so pissed off with your attitude. But I couldn't lay a finger on you because you were a precious research experiment for Aleister. That bastard has so many plans in stored for you that I wasn't allowed to kill you. But now that I have the chance to..."
Then he landed a few more hits on Accelerator, alternating between his fists and leg as a wide grin stayed on his face.
The sound of mushing can be heard in the quiet streets of Academy City.
"I'm gonna fucking enjoy this moment!!"
And his beatings accelerated as he laughed like a hyena that had cornered it's prey.
Accelerator couldn't utter a single word during that beating. His soul was being pounded out of him.
"Well, you're not really my objective here, though. I don't have time to spend on small fries like you. Our real objective is Last Order. So just play dead and stay there until everything is over, okay?"
The moment Accelerator heard that, anger flooded his mind.
Kihara had said Accelerator was not his true objective. And now he said he was going to retrieve Last Order who was always with Accelerator.
His objective was her.
He was going to drag her back into the bloody world Accelerator and Kihara Amata were from.
"Don't you..."
Accelerator began speaking while crawling on the ground.
From his position on the ground, he glared up at Kihara and the men in black who were looking down at him after defenselessly getting that close to him.
With some muddy rainwater on his lips, he continued speaking.
"...underestimate me, you lowly thuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggg!!"
The wind whipped up with a roar.
He had the power to manipulate vectors. He could control the directionality of anything that had even the slightest force. And the wind, the flow of the atmosphere around the earth, was no exception.
He created a local storm.
The 120 m/s blast of wind he controlled fell under the highest M7 class for hurricanes. The atmospheric violence was powerful enough to pick up a car or rip off a house's roof, so it had surpassed the level of a standard missile.
"Die!" shouted Accelerator.
But...
"No, none of that."
Just as Accelerator thought he heard an oddly dry beeping noise, the mass of raging wind he was controlling was blown away. The gathered wind scattered in all directions like the neck of a balloon had been opened.
"!?"
The attack he had thought was a sure thing was negated with ease. Accelerator passed astonishment and was left in a complete daze.
"Like I said, just stay down and play dead!!"
Amata threw another punch directly in his face, and yet again he could not even groan.He tried to cry out in pain, but the voice lacked a proper exit and came out with a muffled ring to it.
Despite his mind being in a disarray, Accelerator could still think to a certain extent.
He had seen this phenomenon before.
With just a touch of his palm, that boy had easily negated the Level 5 powers Accelerator had thought were absolute. That boy had crushed his impenetrable reflection ability and sent heavy blow after heavy blow against his slender body.
"Did you...develop powers in your own body...?"
It took a while for Amata to process his words, but when it went through, he simply laughed at him with tears of joy in his eyes.
"Gya ha ha! No, no, that's not it at all. Why would I experiment on myself? That's a job for the guinea pigs. This is nothing so amazing. It doesn't take that much to crush you even without ridiculous powers. Why would I take such a risk just to crush a single idiot like you? Well?"
"..."
"But damn this feels good. Exterminating insects just puts me in such a good mood. And this is working great today, too."
As Amata spoke, he opened and closed the fingers of the micromanipulators.
Accelerator's shoulders jumped.
It was not over yet.
He could not let himself be defeated so easily.
"Ohh!!"
Accelerator used his vector control to jump up from the ground like a spring and at the same time he swung his arms with everything he had.
He reached his five fingers out toward Kihara Amata.
The first time failed.
But the second time, his fingernails touched Amata. Accelerator poured in his power. He poured it into the gloves Amata wore. He focused the vectors on a single point and the mechanical gloves shattered.
The fragments scattered every which way.
"!?"
Accelerator could see the surprised expression on Amata's face through the remnants flying through the air.
He jabbed his five fingers out toward that face.
That deadly hand broke through the film of mechanical fragments and shot toward Kihara Amata's face.
But...
"I see, I see. Did you think the secret to my power was in the gloves?"
His voice was perfectly calm.
Amata easily avoided Accelerator's strike simply by moving his head to the side.
And his usual smile appeared on his face.
"That's not it at all! Gya ha ha! Sorry about getting your hopes up like that!!"
A fist stabbed into Accelerator's side.
The feeling of vomiting surged up within him as he lets out another muffled groan.
Amata's laugh rang in his eardrums.
"Ha ha! How long are you going to act like you're the strongest? You're nothing but a pile of scrap!!"
Accelerator's body was doubled over from the previous blow and another fist fell atop his head that was sticking forward a bit. His body collapsed to the ground like a toy.
"Your reflection isn't an absolute barrier."
Amata slowly approached him.
Accelerator could not move.
"It only reverses the vector of any force heading into it. That makes it simple to beat the shit out of you. I just have to pull back my fist the instant before hitting. You could say the trick is stopping at the last second."
He sounded like he was enjoying himself.
His smile was that of someone explaining the trick to a piece of stage magic they had thought up.
"You end up reflecting the fist that is moving away from you. That means you actually punch yourself. Do you get it now, masochist-kun!? Or is it too complex for a little kid to understand!?"
Kihara Amata was determined to instill the feeling of fear inside Accelerator.
Accelerator had been in many near death situations in the past month, but this fight was something he had never experienced before.
This was someone who took the time to analyze every single bit of his power and find countermeasures for him. Someone who understood everything about him.
Someone who was willing to go to the mile just to kill him.
This was a Kihara.
"Gahhhh!!"
He tried to control the vectors of the air again, but the dry beeping noise sounded again and it was blown away.
"This is the same, your power works by constructing equations for the vectors. That means I just have to throw those equations out of order. You can't control the wind with me around. That kind of control requires a much more complex set of equations than just reflecting. It's the same as program code. The more lines of code, the higher the possibility of a bug...and more room for intentional interference. Basically, I can jam all of your wind attacks by sending a small sound wave out into the air. It just has to have the proper wave and directionality to sneak into a blind spot in your equations. Get it?"
He had pulled out a cell phone...no, it was the strap attached to it. It was made of a soft material and it seemed that it produced a noise when pressed. That was all it took to seal Accelerator's power.
The repeated sounds of dull impact continued.
Accelerator was being beaten into the ground as blood escaped his mouth and splattered onto Amata's smiling face.
Kihara continued kicking until he was out of breath and then scraped his bloodstained shoe on the wet road. He treated the stains like the ugliest possible thing to find on his shoe.
"Hm? Some bugs sure are hard to kill. Hey, come bring that thing out of the van. You know what I mean. The thing shoved in the back. The one covered in dust."
Amata lightly stretched out an arm and one of the armored men headed to the back of one of the vans with pained movements. What he pulled out and handed to Amata was a heavy toolbox filled with things like hammers and saws.
"The cruder and rougher weapons tend to work better. It's like how a chainsaw meant for lumber gives much more gruesome results than a nonmetal assassin's knife."
Accelerator was not able to speak properly from where he lay collapsed on the ground. He merely looked up at Amata while the rain fell on him.
Then he stopped just in front of Accelerator yet again.
"You've gone soft, masochist-kun. Last time you used to obey every single word those third-rate researchers said, but now, you're just a useless bug crawling on the floor."
Then he looked up at the road again, at the paper bag of food.
"Even buying things for people to eat, how kind I could almost cry right now."
He looked back at Accelerator who was now badly bruised and beaten to the point where his face was starting to swell up.
"Looking at you really pisses me off, and it really saddens me to see how low you've fallen. The old you would have kicked ass! But now, you're just some bug that has to rely on some lame tech to do something original, how lame. But don't worry, I'll put an end to your misery."
Amata took out a sharp knife from the toolbox as he slowly reached in for his electrode connected to his brain.
His smile ever so wide.
"(Fuck, so this is how the Sisters felt when I killed them...)" Accelerator thought. "(Powerless...fuck!! I can't even do anything to protect them...why?! What's the point of being the strongest when this is all I fucking have!! Where's that damn fucking hero...where the fuck is a hero when I need one?!)"
Accelerator frowned as he stared back at Amata.
His memories slowly starting to play right in front of his eyes.
The sadness and anger he felt, but it was soon covered up by the happiness he had felt in the past month.
He smiled as Amata inched closer.
He had to stand up for himself.
"(I killed the hero...so I will take responsibility by being the fucking hero even if it means bloodying my hands even more!!)"
Accelerator reached his hand out and destroyed the knife in front of him as his other hand reached in for Amata's face.
"OOOOOORRRRRAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"
"You just don't fucking listen, do ya?! Masochist-kun!!!"
Amata pulled back just in time before Accelerator's hand could touch him and he simply kicked his head back down into the ground as more blood spilled out from his mouth.
"G....AHHH!!"
Accelerator squirmed on the ground once more as his body fell back.
"You still haven't learned your lesson, Accelerator. I can beat you using anything! Anything! I can crush you without even thinking, I can use anything!! I can even use a gun to beat the shit out of you. You're a dog, just stay down until this is alllll over and we won't have to see each other for the next few months, got it?"
Amata started kicking him relentlessly.
And all Accelerator could do was groan in pain after every kick.
He was defenseless and helpless at the 'mercy' of the name Kihara.
"Ac...celerator?"
Then his kicking stopped.
"Ah?"
Amata along with the armored men turned toward that voice which was not theirs.
It had come from less than twenty meters away. The person must have suddenly come out of one of the narrow side paths. The figure stood in the pouring rain of the night with an umbrella covering her head from the rain.
The light of the streetlights dimly reflected off of the figure.
Then Accelerator turned towards that voice while lying on the ground. He tilted his head forward to see who was the idiot that had entered this mess.
The figure had long hair with curls at the end. She was wearing the prestigious Tokiwadai Uniform in its winter settings. She was a kind girl who Accelerator knew. She was too kind to even be involved in the shit that he was in.
It was Hokaze Junko.
But she did not have the bright smiling face that she always carried nor did she have the expression of a klutz in this situation. She knew what she was looking at as she stood there petrified by the scene unfolding in front of her.
"(What is she doing here? This is not good.)"
As Accelerator lay on the ground, that thought faintly entered his mind.
She could not be more out of place. This was not an opportunity, it only made things worse. He didn't doubt her abilities to fight, but fighting back would mean entering the dark side with him. It would mean putting herself and the ones around her in danger. He knew that
He fucking knew that.
Even Kihara frowned.
He gave none of the thought or analysis one would of a new threat. If that lab-coat-wearing man gave just a few instructions, she would be turned to mincemeat in a matter of seconds.
Anyone could tell what would happen to the soft skin and flesh of a human when shot by those submachine guns that were powerful enough to fill an automobile door full of holes.
"(Fuck!! Why are you here now?!)"
Accelerator turned his attention to the choker-style electrode around his neck.
He should still be able to use his power.
But the injuries carved all across his body refused to let his body move.
"What should we do?" whispered one of the surrounding men wearing all black.
Kihara Amata gave a disinterested sigh.
"You're seriously asking what we should do?"
His answer was brief.
"We eliminate her."
"(Tch!!!)"
Accelerator clicked his tongue.
Hokaze had seen Hound Dog, an existence that was supposed to be hidden from Academy City. But now that she had seen them, they are forced to take action against her, even if it meant killing her.
"(Shit!! Body move!!)"
Accelerator's fingers twitched as he quickly got up on the ground while lowering his center of gravity.
"?!"
Amata quickly noticed Accelerator standing up again and he tried to punch him back down, but because of his lowered center of gravity, he was slightly off the mark.
Only a hair off.
But Accelerator's intentions were not to fight.
He wanted to bring that girl to safety.
His red pupils dilated.
His power activated.
"Oooaaahhhh!!" shouted Accelerator as he pressed the toes of one foot against the ground and kicked as hard as he could. At the same moment, he controlled the vectors. With a rocket-like burst of power, his entire body floated up from the asphalt and shot towards the back sliding door of one of the black vans with frightening speed.
The metal door broke free from its rails and was pushed inside the van as if it had been struck by a wrecking ball.
Accelerator's body filled the back seat of the van.
"Huh?!"
Before the man in black waiting on standby in the driver's seat could react, Accelerator reached out for the crushed door and tore off a metal fixture from the slide portion. He now held a sharp rod-shaped fragment of metal about five centimeters thick and ten centimeters long. He stabbed it forcefully into the center of the back of the driver's seat.
"Ee...Ah!!"
Accelerator spoke to the man who had been physically attached to the driver's seat but was unable even to give a proper scream.
"Go."
He showed no mercy.
He merely told the truth calmly.
"You will die in thirty minutes. If you do not get to the hospital right away, it'll be too late."
From the amount of pain he was feeling, the man had to have known that this injury was beyond what a first-aid kit could heal. Not to mention that he had to know very well how that Kihara Amata would treat an injured subordinate who was now only a hindrance.
He made up his mind quickly.
With the high-pitched sound of the engine, the black van Accelerator sat inside took off with hysterical movements.
The men in black standing on the road scattered to the left and right to avoid it.
Kihara shouted something with an annoyed expression.
Meanwhile, they escaped the surrounding men.
Accelerator could tell the men were aiming their guns at the back of the van. As he stared past the driver's seat and out the windshield, Accelerator noted Hokaze's position.
"Quick get in!!"
Accelerator shouted at her and her shoulders jumped, but she was quick to respond nonetheless. She activated her powers as a surge of electricity covered her entire body and with a simple push off the floor, she traveled 5 meters and towards Accelerator's arms.
Gunshots flew past them but Accelerator didn't care as he pulled her in even more.
Accelerator shifted his position to hide the back of the driver's seat with his body. He also lightly touched the sharp and deadly piece of metal stabbing into the seat.
"Ee...Gah!?"
The man in the driver's seat gave a large jump.
Accelerator whispered quietly enough so that Hokaze could not hear them.
"...Don't make a scene. Just keep driving. Neither of us has much time, right?"
"Wh-where would you like to go, s-sir...?"
"I know a good doctor, a normal doctor probably can't handle this. If you want me to lead you to him, do what I say, driver."
"Y-Yes sir!!"
And as the erratic van kept driving unsteadily while tanking the bullets from the back, Hokaze sat at the back of the van trying to keep herself steady.
Meanwhile, Amata was cursing at the top of his lungs.
"Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh! Bring it out! You know what I mean! Just give it to me!!"
It was a confusing command, but one of his men carried it out. With quick movements, the man pulled a shoulder-fired anti-tank missile launcher from one of the remaining vans and handed it to Amata.
"Hurry it up, you idiot!"
Amata then assembled the launcher and turned off the safety with the speed and accuracy of a professional killer.
No hint of hesitation could be seen in his movements.
It was one of his men in Hound Dog that seemed flustered.
"Wh-what about the driver!?"
"Who cares!? Deserters need to be immediately executed! Goodbye, puppy! I won't forget you for at least a second or two!!"
Amata rested the one-meter-long and thirty-centimeter-wide launcher on his shoulder and peered through the scope.
He lined up the sight.
He placed his finger on the trigger for the homing missile.
The van had traveled a few dozen meters and was just about to turn around a corner.
Amata smiled.
He would make it in time. Even if the automobile made it completely around the corner, the missile would follow them diagonally and strike the corner of the building. That would create a storm of concrete fragments that would flip the van over.
That would not be enough to kill Accelerator but it would definitely deprive him of his transportation. Amata could then take his time as he dealt with Accelerator and the other two who would be injured.
"(You're too naïve, Accelerator! By using that van, you might as well be announcing that you can no longer perform the delicate control needed for the wind!!)"
"Farewell, you fucker! I'll roast that white body of yours black!!"
With an elated smile on his face, Kihara Amata began to pull the trigger.
But...
"?"
His view through the scope was suddenly filled with the color yellow.
Amata assumed something of the wrong scale was blocking his view, so he removed the scope from his eye. He found a strange woman standing a mere ten meters away.
Cold raindrops fell on the roadway. No other vehicles or pedestrians were on the large road. That woman stood alone on the wet road that reflected the traffic lights and the bright white lights coming from building windows.
Amata had not noticed her at all up until that moment.
The countless piercings on her face ruined its symmetry. She wore heavy emphasizing makeup around her eyes. To anyone else, it seemed a completely unthinkable look. She wore something like a dress that was primarily yellow, but it seemed somehow outdated or of a bygone era. She looked like someone from Medieval Europe.
But he did not care about any of that.
What mattered to him was that the van had turned around the corner and disappeared thanks to that stupid woman distracting him.
"..."
All expression left his face and he casually pulled the trigger.
This fired the anti-tank missile.
A straight trail of smoke shot out and the missile stabbed at the center of the woman's chest. Before anyone could see if her expression changed, the missile exploded and shockwaves and explosive flames were scattered throughout the area.
A roar that shook the asphalt rang out.
Perhaps due to the close proximity of the explosion, the men in black surrounding Amata were all knocked away by the blast.
Red flames and black smoke blocked his view.
But...
After only about five seconds, a violent wind blew it all away.
The flames and smoke completely disappeared in this new storm that had come from the center of the blast.
In the center of the scorched, smashed, and scattered asphalt stood the woman as if nothing had happened.
Both her clothes and her hair showed no sign of having been damaged or burned.
"What an excellent city," said the yellow woman suddenly.
She was not looking at Kihara Amata or the others.
"I thought my erosion would progress faster than this, but I guess it won't. It really isn't fair for most of your people to be teachers and students. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that my erosion is slower against those kinds of people."
The woman with the piercings in her face turned toward Amata.
"But you seem to be exceptionally dark."
"Who are you?"
"I'm a rival killer. That boy you were beating up was my target, but he just ran off with his tail in between his legs, so thanks to you, I'll have to chase him. I had another target, but it seemed like a saint was around her, so getting to her would be pretty difficult, but whatever."
With a look of boredom, Amata simply went on his last van as he waved his hand uninterested.
"Whatever, if your target is Accelerator, then we both have a common goal so I won't kill you. Keep him busy for me, thanks."
Some of his men entered the van with him while the rest of them walked towards the van that had been destroyed.
"Heh, I'll kill you one day as well."
Amata didn't give her any more of his time as he slid the door on his van shut and drove off to rendezvous with the other van that had the hostages.
"Now then, Imagine Breaker. Let us get started shall we?"
---30th September 7:12p.m.---
It had only been 10 minutes since they started driving, but during that time, Hokaze kept pestering Accelerator about his wounds as she started to touch his face without consent with a tissue.
"Tch, do you ever stop?! Why are you even here?"
Even though they had drove a good distance away from Amata, it did not mean that they were completely safe from him. For all he knew, there could have been a tracking device placed on the van and he wouldn't even know it.
With the side of the door missing as well, it was evident to anyone that it was a stolen van now.
But that didn't matter to Accelerator right now.
There was only one hospital in District 7 and once they were there, he would drop off the girl there.
"But...what is happening right now?"
"Bad blood. Really fucking bad blood."
"You're badly wounded, I can get you to the hospital so let's just take--"
As Hokaze reached in for the steel pipe inside the driver's back, Accelerator stopped her.
"I need him. People like him are the perfect opportunity for me to get my revenge on that bastard, Kihara."
"But you don't have to do this! You could just--"
Accelerator glared at her as he pushed the pipe in even more and the man intentionally let out a painful cry in hopes of gaining some sympathy from the person who clearly had a heart here.
"This bastard doesn't deserve anything. He's killed people the same way I have. The only difference between us is the body count. You're not even supposed to be here."
"But...it was raining, so I...I thought you could use an umbrella..."
The driver almost let out a small laughter but knowing what the Accelerator's reaction would have been, he quickly placed his hand over his mouth, but Accelerator saw it and he shoved it in even more.
"Don't be ridiculous. The rain won't even kill me, unlike these bastards."
At this point, the pipe had been shoved in so deep that it was close to bursting out of his stomach.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"...There is."
There was a slight hesitation in Accelerator's voice as he looked out of the window of the van but then he decided what the best move was.
To get some help.
"There is a big hospital near here, once we've reached the destination, help me ask the doctor for a spare battery of the electrode connected to the Misaka Network."
"That's it?"
"Yeah, and then you can follow me to beat the shit out of that Kihara bastard."
Hokaze's frown turned into a pleasant smile as she stepped on the edge of the wide open van.
"What are you doing?" Accelerator casually asked.
"This van is not moving fast isn't it? I can get to the hospital faster on foot."
"Ahn? Are you crazy?"
Hokaze looked in front as her eyes glanced back at him the same way that he did to her in the mall.
"You have precious people who need your help, right? That's why you would go to this extent to help them. It's okay, I'll help you in any way I can."
"...Tch, do whatever you want."
Accelerator realized how much she understood him without saying a single word.
With that, a single jump from her shook the van and it rocked about left and right, but soon it got it's wheels back on track.
The driver simply heaved a sigh of relief as he let his feet off the pedal.
But she only understood him to a certain extent.
A certain extent.
"Drive."
"H-Huh? We're not done yet?!"
Accelerator only nudged the metal pipe ever so slightly and he yelped in response.
"I only sent her on a mission."
Then their eyes met when Accelerator showed his face in the rear view mirror.
"Our mission is not done yet. This is a one way road, there's no turning back from this."
"B-But I'm gonna die!! I don't want to die!!"
"Then start driving. Live or die is up to you now."
"Fuck!! Why did I do this?!"
The engines started revving again as he put the pedal to the metal.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
dontouchme
dontouchme Hello everyone, author here again. Sorry for the late upload, have been quite busy with work for the past week, it might be like this for the next few weeks or so. So I apologize in advance.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. So far, everything is still going according to the plot. A bit of plagiarism here and there, but the main point is there.
Anyway, that's all I have to say, I hope you all continue supporting me despite my late uploads and inconsistent uploads.
Author signing off!