Chaos Theory: Chapter 20

A/N: Just trying to achieve that platonic ratio of middle school girls talking to high voltage mind power battles present in the original anime.

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Chapter was commissioned by Bapping!

Chapter 20: Observer Effect

“‘We return to our heroines as they follow after Mama in the dead of night,’ narrates Misaka boldly. ‘Having discovered something incriminating during after club activities, the group of students trail after Mama like spies.’”

Misaka 10032 made goggles around her eyes with her hands, ignoring the night and electrovision goggles perched atop her head.

“‘Big sis, and the light-controlling level three from Big sis’s after school club lead the way, using their abilities to keep track of Mama as she makes her way down the streets,’ says Misaka as she admires the teamwork of Tokiwadai students. Truly a paradigm of education in Academy City, ‘Shirai Kuroko is used to quickly reposition other groups, as well as Kongou, who uses her air palm to quickly close distance.”

Distance that Misaka 10032 has to make up. Between narrating her thoughts, she darted along the nearest rooftop in an electricity-assisted leap. Her own ability was an outlier in the network, exceeding the average Misaka throughput after prolonged exposure to the professor. Right now, the rest of the Network was watching on and providing calculations to assist in Misaka 10032’s acrobatics.

“‘The other members of the ability development club Thought Touch Sasaki Ryoko, Telereach Nagasaki Miyu, and Minamono Ayako, have yet to contribute,’ says Misaka as she spies upon the spies, ‘but certainly a touch telepath will prove useful, and the girl with star eyes is the definition of a wild card.”

Misaka 10032 slid down a wall, using a trick she’d seen big sister use many times, landing on the ground only a short distance away from Mikoto’s friends. Once again, she held up her hand goggles and crouched behind a smart dumpster as she continued her observations.

“‘Actually, the composition of big sister’s new friend group is analogous to those found in ensemble spy thrillers,’ muses Misaka as she dissects the various dispositions of the group. ‘All that is missing is a civilian girl possessing gumption and a certain je ne sais quoi that—’”

“Hey, Misaka. What are you doing?”

Misaka paused her narrations at the voice, glancing over her shoulder to see two other girls in casual wear. One was Kuroko’s friend from Judgement, the meek esper with a flower headband. And the other was—

“Saten! Over here!”

“Heeeh?” Saten Ruiko glanced between Misaka 10032 and Misaka Mikoto, designation Big Sister, waving at her from farther down the alley. “Misaka, how are you in two places at once right now?”

“What are you talking about?” Mikoto jogged over, the rest of the Ability development club trailing after her. “I’m right he—what the heck are you doing here?!”

10032 stood upright as the group of girls came to a stop. “‘Alas,’ says Misaka as she is surrounded by the targets of her voyeurism, ‘I have been made. Please, have mercy on me for my actions, because they were only for the good.’”

She was treated to several confused stares.

“Uh…Miss Railgun,” Sasaki, the touch telepath, raised her hand. “D-do you have a twin sister?”

“W-w-what?” Misaka shook her head frantically. “This isn’t what it looks like, it’s—it’s uh—”

“Aha!” Kuroko snapped her fingers. “You’re another one of those Misaka cosplayers the Professor warned me about.”

“Cosplayers?” a girl asked.

“… ‘Yes,’ lies Misaka. ‘I am a costume player.’”

At her side, Saten giggled. “I don’t think you’re supposed to say when you’re lying?”

“‘What do you mean?’ asks Misaka in confusion, ‘I am an excellent liar because of my excellent poker face.’”

“My, my.” Kongou covered her mouth with a raised hand. “Endearing verbal tic aside, I believe we would all like to know what is going on here. Do not think it escapes my notice that this new Misaka is wearing a Tokiwadai uniform as well, but I have never seen her in the halls or at student assembly.”

Mikoto stiffened.

“Tch.” Kuroko folded her arms. “Normally I’d say something about that, but you are the type to memorize the entire student body.”

Kongou tilted her head, long black hair rippling behind her as she put her back to the shadows of the alley way. “You cannot expect me to believe that you believe this ‘cosplayer’ farce. The girl said she was lying.”

“‘I did not say I was lying,’ says Misaka in increasing confusion and angst as her words are—”

“Yes, yes, you’ve made your point.” Kongou said. “While I was originally invested in this group outing, such a strange occurrence so early cannot simply go unremarked—”

“She’s my sister!” Mikoto shouted. She looked down at the ground, fists clenched at her sides. “She’s my sister, and…there’s some stuff I can’t talk about, involving Academy City, so can we just drop it?”

“Hou?” Kongou leaned back. “And overdeveloped case of hero worship?”

“‘I love Big Sister,’ says Misaka very much without lying.”

“Hmm. Be that as it may—” But Kongou’s next words were cut off as Sasaki snaged the sleeve of her dress.

Kongou and Mikoto both looked at her. As the shiest member of the ability development club, Sasaki Ryoko spent most of her time working with Professor Hebert directly. She’d been the most in favor of following the Professor even when it became clear their destination was deeper into the industrial side of Academy City than most of them had dared to venture.

“I-if it’s personal, maybe we shouldn’t press?” she said.

Kongou’s expression softened. After a moment she shifted, allowing her hand to rest within easy reach of Sasaki’s without making contact herself. “I am simply concerned—”

“Hey, so…” Saten leaned forward, physically inserting herself into the circle of Tokowadai students. “Misaka having a secret not-twin sister is pretty cool, but weren’t we supposed to be following someone?”

“Crap!” Mikoto jolted upright. “The professor!”

“Well,” Saten said. “Looks like you’ve lost her now.”

The Tokiwadai girls all glanced at each other, murmuring in confusion.

“Wow, that’s it?”

“A bit underwhelming isn’t it?”

“What should we do next? Do we just go home?”

Kuroko clapped her hands once. “Everyone! Don’t be so easily distracted. We have the address of Professor Hebert’s ultimate destination. We should set this distraction aside to catch up with her!”

“R-right.” Mikoto nodded rapidly. “We don’t want to get left behind, do we?”

“Awww.” The girl with starry eyes grinned at Saten. “But I wanted to know more about one of the secret mysteries of Academy City.”

“We’ll be missing out on another mystery if we stay around here talking though?” Saten said.

“Trueeeeeee.”

Kongou sighed, stepping forward. “Yes well, I suppose you have a point. A pleasure to meet the both of you; I am Kongou Mitsuki. How do you know our Railgun?”

“Oh. It’s great to meet you too!” Saten waved a hand. “I’m Saten Ruiko, and this is my friend Uihara. We know Kuroko through Judgement.”

“They’re also my friends outside of school,” Mikoto said.

“Friends outside of school?”

“Secret friends?”

“This is the railgun lore…”

“Oi.” Mikoto’s bangs sparked once. “Stop talking about me like I’m not here.”

Ignoring her completely, Minamoto Ayaka siddled closer to Uihara, eyes twinkling. “Hey, hey. Do those flowers have something to do with—”

“If we’re all quite done?” Kuroko cut it. “I think we all agree that it’s time to get moving again, no?”

“Right.” Saten nodded. “Where are we going again? Kuroko just texted us to meet you guys here.”

“Oh. Yes, uh. The address is some industrial building nearby. I don’t actually know which one.”

“All of the addresses are listed wrong on AcaMaps.” Mikoto pulled out her cellphone, showing an address and a mess of squiggling and contradictory directions underneath. “That’s why we were trying to keep sight of Professor Hebert.”

“‘I know that address,’ says Misaka as Misaka realizes that she does know that address. ‘Please, follow me.’”

Again, every other person in the alley turned to look at her, and Misaka 10032 took that as confirmation that she was to lead the way. She turned and marched into the depths of Academy City’s warehouse district with a gaggle of school girls at her back.

Around them, the storage units rose up like crooked towers, until only a sliver of sky could be seen, tinted grey from the light pollution.

Misaka Mikoto jogged up to stand next to her clone. “You never said why you were nearby,” she half whispered. Behind, the other girls started to chatter as the contraints of stealth fell away.

“Oh this is so exciting! I’ve never been out this way before!” one girl said.

“A-aren’t you at least a little worried?”

“We’ve got two levels fours with us and two Railguns too!” Minamoto replied. “What’s there to worry about?”

“‘I was looking for Mama,’ says Misaka to Misaka. ‘After I realized that Big Sis was looking for Mama as well, I followed you.”

“Wait.” Mikoto blinked rapidly. “So you know where Professor Hebert is?”

Misaka 10032 shook her head. “‘No,’ says Misaka, shaking her head. ‘Mama has left network radius.’”

Mikoto sighed. “Guess we’re doing things the hard way, as always.”

It became clear exactly how hard that way would be when they arrived at their ‘destination’. A hulking cube of brutalist concrete, with a double barn door of scarred and corrugated metal placed in its center rose out of the tangle of mazelike buildings and piles of shipping crates. Mikoto tried the door once, first with a futile pull, then with a surge of electricity.

“It’s analog,” she said. “No electronics.”

“Are we sure this is our destination?” Kongou asked.

“Unless you have something else go off of,” Mikoto replied. “Kuroko?”

“Hmm.” Kuroko vanished in a pop, before landing next to Misaka a second later. “I can get us inside, Oneesama.” She leaned closer. “Just take my hand and hold it tight!”

Mikoto rolled her eyes. “Right. Last chance to avoid the scary building. Otherwise, hop on the Kuroko express.”

“Please, I’m not some trivial conveyance for—”

Saten laughed, draping herself over Kuroko’s shoulders before the smaller girl could get going. “As if dangerous buildings have ever stopped us before.”

After one of Mikoto’s friends said she was in, the rest of the girls quickly followed suit. In a flash, the entire group teleported from a dark and narrow alleyway to a darker and narrower hallway inside. There were no doors, just a stretch of pitted concrete wall extending into the darkness. After a moment of flailing, Arisu, the photokinetic, held up her hand and lit up the hallway as if she was holding a torch.

10032 took a moment to look around, taking in the surroundings, the ambient electricity—or rather, the surprising lack of it. Most of the power in the building seemed to be running underneath their feet.

“Hey,” Minamoto said. “This looks interesting.”

There was a hiss and a clunk as something shifted.

“Mina,” Mikoto said. “What did you do?”

“I—”

The floor fell away beneath them.

“Oneesama!” Kuroko teleported, popping back and forth through the air.

“Get the others!” Mikoto reached out, crackling with electricity as her hands sought a wall but—the wall split, Misaka 10032 and her big sister vanishing into a chute. Mikoto’s hands caught the side wall, slowing them just in time for several more bodies to crash into them.

“Look out!”

“Kongou?”

The walls hummed, accelerated them down and away.

“I can’t use my ability!”

“‘Hold on,’ says Misaka as she faaaaaaaaaaa—”

They popped out of the chute, landing on a cushioned surface.

“aalls to a…soft landing?”

“Oowwwww.”

10032 looked down before slowly getting off of her Big Sis, who was laying face down on a large crash pad. The surface was old and rough, but the impact-absorbent liquid within still worked; otherwise all of them would liquid too.

“‘Are you okay?’ asks Misaka, downplaying the fact that she landed on Big Sis.”

Mikoto groaned. Face down, with her short brown hair splayed out around her, she looked uncharitably like a mop discarded in a school storage room.

“Oh my.” From the other side of the crash pad, Kongou rose, brushing herself off. “That was most unexpected. Who else is here with us? It’s hard to see.”

The room had better light than the hallway somewhere above, but still dim, for a much wider space. Walls of cavernous blackness surrounded them on three sides, with the fourth taken up by blinking control panels and the chute they’d all fallen down, stretching up and out of sight.

“I’m here,” Saten said. “Anyone else?”

Misaka glanced around, but saw only the four of them.

Kongou tapped her chin. “Maybe miss Kuroko managed to get everyone else? I sensed a split in the air currents, so it’s possible they fell down another break in that strange tunnel.”

With another groan, Mikoto pushed herself upright. “Where are we, anyway?”

“‘Some kind of control room,’ says Misaka with confidence and familiarity with control rooms.”

“There she goes again with those strange extranarrative hints,” Kongou said. “I truly do not know what to make of you.”

Misaka took a step away from the other girl. “‘Ah, no,’ says Misaka fearfully. ‘Please do not make anything out of me.’”

That resulted in only another strange look.

“Okay then.” Mikoto held up a crackling hand of electricity, before frowning and zapping the wall. The lights inside the room lit up, revealing that the cavernous black walls were windows, revealing slices of twisted paths and concrete walls.

“A maze?” Kongou drifted over to the viewing windows. “Not unlike the morass we trekked through to get here, actually.”

“Really?” Saten jogged over. “Huh. Well, I guess this means you all found the right place.”

“Oh?”

Saten raised an eyebrow at Kongou. “You ever see a place like this that wasn’t up to something shady?”

Mikoto cursed, and all three of the girls spun around. “Door is analogue too.” Mikoto pointed to a small and unassuming door in the back of the control room. “And none of this is connected to anything relevant.”

“My,” Kongou covered her mouth. “It appears as though the perpetrators were preparing exactly for you, Miss Mikoto.”

A sour expression flickered across her face, before it was replaced with a grin. “Good thing I brought friends, then.”

A matching smile appeared at the corner of Kongou’s lips. “Indeed. What say I take a swing at these—”

“SO.” A voice boomed over the air. As one, all four girls jumped. “IT APPEARS YOU FOUND US!”

“Where is that coming from?”

“I don’t know.” Mikoto shook her head. “Not the speakers in the booth.”

“Not in the booth?” Saten frowned. “But that would mean they’re—”

Outside the windows, lights went on, blindingly bright. 10032’s eyes adjusted quickly. She looked out the windows, seeing a massive maze laid out beneath them, all open at the top so that observers—and that must be what this strange, ceiling-mounted room was for—could look down at the rats running through that maze.

And at the far end of the room, stood a figure in a white lab coat and a very distinctive sillouhette.

“SO KIND OF YOU TO JOIN US, PROFESSOR!”

“P-p-professor?!” Mikoto darted across the room, pressing herself against the glass. “What’s she doing out there?”

“It appears she entered the facility some other way.” Kongou tapped her lip, clear polish flashing in the exterior lights. “Though, if they were expecting the Professor…”

Mikoto paused, stepping back from the wall. “Then you think…that this could be a trap for her? Maybe even giving her bad information that led her here?”

“Oh my,” Kongou’s eyes widened. “That’s most distressing to think about. And even more so when you consider that we unwittingly followed after her!”

Mikoto paused, looking at Kongou.

Saten coughed. “So, uh, what were you thinking about, Miss Kongou?”

“Hmm?” Kongou tilted her head. “Simply that we might still be undetected, if the people in charge of this facility are focused on Professor Hebert. If this is a trap for our professor, however...” She shifted her stance, glaring out the window. “We should rectify that situation post haste.”

“How?” Saten asked. “By jumping down into that weird maze? If I were running this place, I wouldn’t even be near your scary Tokiwadai professor I set a trap for.” She paused, leaning towards Mikoto. “Is it weird that your teacher gets involved in the dark side of Academy City too? I thought it was just you…”

“It’s weird. She’s kinda weird too, but so far, she’s only helped me out,” Mikoto said. She crackled once with electricity, a full body wave of white-blue that raced from her crown to the soles of her shoes. “And I agree with Kongou; we should do something about it.”

“‘Apologies for interrupting,’ Misaka interrupts unapologetically. ‘But it does not appeart that Ma-that the Professor is in need of assistance at this time.” She pointed.

The three girls turned back towards the glass.

“Are those guns?!” Saten jerked forward, pressing herself against the glass just in time for Professor Hebert to slide beneath a spray of bullets. The man adjusted his aim and then froze.

“Keep shooting, dammit.” The girls jerked at the voices piped into the booth from below.

Professor Hebert stood up, brushing herself off even as the first man, lab coat flaring as he brought his gun to bear on another scientist and squeezed the trigger.

“Holyyyyyyy…” Saten grit her teeth at the sight. “What’s he doing?”

The two Tokiwadai girls shared a glance. “Professor Hebert is…a mind controller,” Mikoto said.

“Uh…So did she just murder a guy?” Saten paused, peering down at the testing ground below. “Oh, cool, they were rubber bullets!”

“Rubber Bullets?” Kongou asked.

“Well, I mean.” Saten pointed. The second man below rose to his feet and swept up his rifle in one smooth motion, before swaying over to stand at the Professor’s side. “Unless she can mind control dead bodies.”

The Tokiwadai girls shared another glance.

“She…can’t control dead bodies, right?”

“‘No Mama cannot control dead bodies,’ Says Misaka as she dismisses such outlandish rumors out of hand.”

“M-mama?” Saten asked.

Mikoto sighed. “Please…don’t ask right now.”

Kongou pursed her lips. “Don’t think you can conceal so many secrets from your friends, Misaka.”

Mikoto jerked. “Okay, okay! I’ll tell you about it. Just…aren’t there more important things to be focused on right now?”

“I don’t know,” Saten said. “Your teacher lady looks like she’s soloing.”

Another staccato burst of gunfire rattled through the booth. Below, the Professor’s two mind-controlled dolls unloaded down a corridor as the group of three advanced in lock step towards another bunker. The moment the first woman inside fell under Professor Hebert’s control, she turned on her erstwhile allies, pinning them down over shouts of alarm and dismay that fell silent a few moments later.

At a brisk pace, Professor Hebert added three new people to her entourage before pressing deeper into the maze. Now armed with a full platoon, the four girls watched her dismantle other traps and ambushes with contemptuous ease while the man in control continued ranting over the loudspeakers.

She came to a stop in front of a locked door made of thick metal, a growing legion of mind-controlled dolls at her back.

“So this is what Shoukuhou Misaki could do, one day…” Kongou murmured.

“Professor shut down Mental Out the other day,” Mikoto replied. Kongou’s eyes widened in surprise.

“‘Fufufu,’ laughs Misaka gleefully. ‘Of course; Mama is the best mind controller in Academy City.’”

Professor Herbert slapped her hand against the door, and after a moment, the bright electronic lock on its surface blinked green.

“Wow,” Saten blinked. “She can even mind control doors?”

Mikoto fiddled with the edge of her sleeve. “Well…”

“Hey, hey.” Saten raised a hand. “Doesn’t it seem a little weird?”

“What do you mean, Miss Saten?” Kongou asked.

“Well, your teacher is tearing through them.” Saten pointed. After the door, Hebert had blitzed the next section of the maze. She led with a group of her dolls, clearing corners and gunning down turrets with ruthless efficiency. The rear guard, jogging backwards almost as fast as a normal person would run, cut down flanks and counterattacks without pausing.

“If I was gonna make a trap for a mind controller, not sure I’d fill it with a bunch of civilians with guns. Especially not like…fake guns?” Saten bit her lip. “Can they get real guns? They shouldn’t be able to get real guns, right?”

“They can get big guns,” Mikoto replied. “I’ve dealt with groups that had Anti-Skill equipment before.”

“Huh…how’d that go?” Saten asked.

Mikoto smirked. “I’m basically bulletproof.”

“Mmm.” Saten nodded. “But…what if they were rubber bullets?”

The two Tokiwadai girls shared a look.

“Miss Saten,” Kongou said. “You’re suggesting that this building may have been designed as a trap for Misaka instead?”

“I mean, she does have a habit of sticking her nose into things,” Saten replied. “And more importantly—”

Whatever was more important was cut off by an explosion from the maze.

Below, Professor Hebert stepped out of the smoke, idly fixing the sleeve of her own coat. “If we could get to the point, Kihara, that would be lovely.”

“KEKEKEKE.” A raspy, sickening laugh played over the speakers. “I SEE YOU’RE NOT AMUSED BY MY PARTY FAVORS.”

“Oh, it’s interesting what you’ve done with them. Military training, downloaded directly into their brain?”

“INDEED.” The maze shifted, rumbling, opening a path towards its center. “THE TRUE PURPOSE OF THE INDian Poker Project.” The voice grew softer as a maze rose from a platform in the center of the maze. Behind him, a trio of screens lip up behind him with his face, narrow and sneering, looking out over the entire facility. “Mindstate transference.”

Professor Hebert stared at him for a minute, eyes hard. Then she started walking. “And all of your coworkers just happened to volunteer.”

“Needs must.” The man shrugged. “Don’t worry; soon, the project will balloon in popularity in Academy City, and I will have all the test subjects I could hope for. Several of your own students have proved most interested.”

The Professor jerked to a stop at the foot of the raised platform. “You’re disgusting.”

The man laughed, ignoring the rifles trained on him. “Oh, quite the opposite. It is not my fault that people in this city seek good dreams so desperately, or that young women would kill for your new and improved figure.”

In the booth, Mikoto stiffened, looking away as her cheeks went red. Kongou placed a consoling hand on her friend’s shoulder.

Professor Hebert’s face twisted into a deep glower. “I thought there might be something deeper going on here, but to think you’re just another lecherous old man.”

“Ahh, but don’t you want to see the societal implications? When everyone is beautiful, when everyone can look like exactly what they want to, the boundaries of society will shift, and I will hold the fulcrum.”

Professor Hebert snorted. “People can already do that; it just costs more money. I don’t need to see what happens when you equate ‘beauty’ or ‘ability’ even more with money.” She crossed her arms over her own chest. “And I’m still going to take my own reparations out of your hide.”

“You can try.” The man smirked. “You will fail.”

“Yes,” Professor Hebert agreed. “Because you’re not actually Kihara Gensei, are you?”

The man on the stage paused, face twisting in confusion. “How quaint that—”

“Kekekeke…” A new laugh, lower played over the speakers. The screens flickered, before switching to a backlit silhouette. “How clever… Professor.”

“And who is this?” she asked the screens. “Your little catspaw? Did you make him dream he was you?”

“Indeed.” The man on the screens said. On the raised platform, the faux Kihara stared blankly upward. “Another failed test subject; his inbuilt perversions were too deeply rooted. You have my sincere apologies.”

“I refuse to—”

“Perversions?!” The man on stage slashed his hand through the air. “I am enlightened. I am Kihara Gensei, and I see the future. AND THE FUTURE IS FULL OF BUXOM—”

The sharp retort of gunfire, and dozens of rubber bullets slamming into his body, cut off the rest of his rant. The man swayed backwards, blood oozing from his face, before toppling from the stage with a wet crunch.

“All of this,” Professor Hebert said. “Because some old man didn’t get laid and decided to make that my problem?”

On the screens. Kihara laughed again.

“I expected better of Academy City’s scientific establishment.” She shook her head. “And believe me when I tell you that isn’t a compliment.”

“Was it not an American that said, ‘in the game of patriarchy, women aren’t players, they are the board’?”

“And is that what you have going on here?” Professor Hebert asked.

“Oh no, my dear. I seek much higher harmonies. I simply work with the tools that I am given, as do you,” Kihara replied.

“Who even is this guy?” Saten whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

“…I don’t know,” Mikoto replied.

Professor Hebert snorted. “Are you about to say that we’re not so different after all?”

“Different?” The silhouette shifted, growing larger. “Of course we are different. I could not produce such useful data as you did on your little romp through my playground. But it appears our time together is at an end…”

The door in the observation booth clicked, distracting the girls from the rest of Kihara’s speech. As one, they turned just in time to see the door swing open and two more women enter the room.

“Well, fudge,” Mikoto said.

Across the room, Mugino Shizuri, Academy City’s 5th ranked esper, stopped one step into the viewing booth. Her eyes flicked across the four girls, then out the window, then back again.

“The fuck are you doing up here?” she asked.

“I could ask you the same question.” Mikoto let her hands fall to her sides, fingertips sparking slightly. “You and…?” She paused, looking at the smaller girl at Shizuri’s side: short, blue eyed, and with a satin beret sitting on top of long blond hair. “Have we met before?”

“Mmm. At the Café, remember.” The blonde girl smirked. “When you were getting chewed out by that woman down there.”

“Urk—!”

Saten leaned out from behind the wall of espers that had slipped in front of her. “Oh, hey, Frenda!” She waved.

Frenda waved back.

Mikoto turned, betrayal running sharp across her features. “S-saten?!”

“What?” Saten Ruiko tilted her head. “Did you think you were the only super dangerous person I know?”

“That’s not exactly reassuring!”

A sharp hiss echoed from the booth’s internal speakers. “Meltdowner,” came Kihara Gensei’s voice. “Please, take care of our dear professor.”

Mikoto’s hands whipped into her pocket, pulling out a coin before the older woman could take a step. “Don’t even think about it.”

Meltdowner glared, stretching one long arm out to the side, visual static playing out over her palm. “You keep getting in my way, Railgun.”

“Yeah, well, stop trying to kill people I know,” Mikoto replied.

‘Kill people?’ Saten mouthed.

10032 turned her head. ‘Mugino Shizuri, AKA Meltdowner is a mercenary for hire and has been contracted to assassinate Mama before,’ mouths Misaka silently.’

Saten stared back at her without an ounce of comprehension.

“Meltdowner?” came Kihara’s voice again. In the corner of the booth, a camera popped down from the ceiling. The lens whirred once. “Ah, I see. Well, that is the problem with employing unreliable human variables. Do keep our guests entertained, or I will be displeased.”

The camera exploded in a burst of wind. Kongou lowered her hand. “I think I have had quite enough of this place.”

Outside, Kihara continued to speak for a different audience. “These little toys were meant for someone else, but I’m sure that they serve quite well as a replacement for your little rematch.

With a hiss, more chutes fell from the ceiling. For a moment, the dark openings remained empty, then a burst of steam rushed out. From the steam fell hulking robots, two arms and two legs, but all flat and hard panels. They looked like war machines, cracking the ground where they landed before rising and leveling weapons on the Professor.

“Always fucking something,” she muttered.

“Misaka,” Kongou said.

Mikoto grunted, turning. “On it.”

“Not so fast.” Shizuri swung her arm forward, the distortion around her palm focusing into bright green spheres at the tips of her fingers. They pulsed rapidly, overwhelming the electric lights with flickering false shadows.

Mikoto paused, hair floating around her head from the static.

“This little standoff goes both ways, Railgun!” Shizuri barked. “One step towards that window, and I’ll fry these little twerps.”

“Do not take me so lightly.” Kongou shifted her stance.

“You’re not even Level 5, brat,” Shizuri replied. “And then what, one of those dinky little clones? Get real.”

The girls turned to look at Misaka 10032. After a moment, she raised her hand. “‘Ah, Misaka is not a clone, she is a…costume player?’ tries Misaka in vain.”

“One of these days I’m gonna teach you all how to lie better,” Mikoto muttered.

“Don’t worry about us, Misaka.” Kongou brushed aside the byplay. “The two of us will be able to delay Meltdowner in time for you to aid the professor and return.”

Saten glanced towards the window. Below, Kihara continued gloating, even as Professor Hebert drew her puppets into a tight knot. “We’re kinda running out of time here,” Saten said. “Even if it’s maybe a little selfish, I’d, uh, rather not be Meltdownered, if that’s okay?”

“Aww don’t worry, Ruiko!” Frenda said. “I’ll make sure to keep you safe after I take out your little ojousama coterie.”

Kongou gasped. “On a first name basis already?”

Saten scratched her cheek. “Uh, thanks?”

“No problem!”

Shizuri’s cheek twitched. “Frenda!”

“What?” Frenda shrugged. “A girl’s gotta have a life outside of work.”

“So,” Saten replied. “…Does this mean we’re still on for Karaoke this weekend?”

Frenda giggled, flicking a knife out of her sleeve. “Sure! Anyone who’s still alive can join in!”

“I still maintain that we can delay them,” Kongou said, voice low.

The green spheres on Shizuri’s fingers pulsed once, growing brighter.

“Why don’t you go ahead and try it,” she dared.