Mikoto Misaka shot a railgun blast at Accelerator, which deflected back, narrowly deflected by Misaka's own field.

"Well, hello original," Accelerator shrugged, noticing her. "I'm fighting one of these puppets, so would you let me finish first?"

"Don't you dare touch her," Misaka gritted her teeth. "I'll be your opponent from now on!"

"Eh?!" Accelerator raised an eyebrow in annoyance. He scratched his head. "Is there something wrong with your memory? Didn't your clones say that I can't fight you? It'll mess up the experiment. Or do you envy my power? Trying to stop me from advancing to Level 6?"

Mikoto gritted her teeth, but decided to play along. Summoning all the bluster and arrogance she could, she bluffed, "Th-That's right! Who do you think you are, thinking you can get to Level 6! Of all people to become a Level 6 first, how can it be you? It should be me!"

"Haha, so who would've thought? You're just another punk who wants my place. Guess it's time to teach you your place."

Accelerator gently touched a cargo crate, and it launched at Mikoto with astonishing velocity.

Mikoto instinctively knocked it aside, before realizing that wasn't what she actually wanted.

Mikoto decided to change tactics a little. "Ha, pathetic."

"Eh?" Accelerator frowned, cocking his head. "What did you say?"

"I said you're pathetic, asshole. I'm rather disappointed. I never imagined the first hit to be a little stronger than that. Or are you playing games?" She launched a direct blast with her electricity.

"Bitch," Accelerator muttered, kicking the train track iron bars on the ground. A dozen of them levitated and aimed at Mikoto Misaka. "I'm tired of your stupid antics! Don't try that again!"

"Oh, yeah, going to stop me, dipshit?" Mikoto taunted, firing another railgun blast at him, and summoning a storm of iron sand.

"Tsk! Stupid bitch!" Accelerator fired the rails at her, more out of annoyance and trying to chase him off.

Mikoto could have dodged- in fact, her mind screamed at her to get out of the way or block it with her powers, as she easily could have. But she willed herself to stand still, suppressed her AIM diffusion field.

And the two of the bars stabbed her.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Mikoto screamed in indescribable agony, her mind going blank for a moment.

At last, her screaming stopped and she looked down in shock and disbelief. "My- my- " A bar had punctured her upper abdomen, ripping through her stomach and nailing her to the ground. Another had stabbed her in the lower abdomen, and a number of intestines had been torn from her in the impact. A third smashed right through her right knee, tearing through skin, muscle, and shattering bone. Her right lower leg tore off and plopped uselessly onto the gravel.

Her body's instinctive electrical powers were creating magnetism that forcibly latched to the iron atoms inside the hemoglobin of her red blood cells. It was the only thing preventing her from going into shock.

In her agony, somewhere in her mind, Mikoto knew she had to die. That she had come here to die for some reason, but that reason couldn't compute in her tortured, pain-addled mind.

Her adrenaline was screaming for her to live, and suddenly the pain wasn't so immediate. It was still there, but abruptly it felt distant, as if Mikoto was suddenly floating out of her body.

In that instant, all her regrets began to flood her mind. "F- I- I'm so s-sorry… Mom. There's- so much- I couldn't say… you too, Kuroko, Uiharu, Saten… I'm so glad I got to meet you. I'm wish- I wish- I could see you all again… one last time… And- and you Kamijou Touma, you brave dummy…" She broke out into sobs, misery and terror shaking her body. "I'm so sorry, everyone. I- I don't really want to die! Please, I don't want to die!"

Abruptly, Mikoto felt a familiar presence and turned her head slightly to see a familiar figure running toward her. She couldn't help but find the situation darkly humorous despite the horror of it all. "Ha… I'm… really going to die…I'm…hallucinating in a time… like this…"

In that Mikoto gave up, her head lolling backward, blood oozing from the corner of her mouth. As the life dissipated out her mutilated body, her AIM diffusion field dispersed as well. Her blood burst out of both holes in her abdomen, from her severed leg, and from every orifice of her body, splashing all over the gravel.

Kamijou Touma panted desperately, racing toward the location where the next experiment had been pinpointed, where he'd feared Mikoto herself had gone.

Only in time to find his worst fears confirmed.

"W-Why?" Touma fell to his knees. "Why- couldn't I- why did it- why her-?"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Several days later, at an ITEM safehouse…

Mugino frowned and bit her lip as she finished reading the message.

"Is something the matter, boss?" Rikou Takitsubo asked.

"No, nothing…" Mugino closed her eyes. "It's just- that- the stupid girl we fought in the science facility is dead. Railgun is gone, and I am now the third-ranked Level Five ESPer in Academy City."

"That's great news!" Frenda Seivelun cheered. "Way to go boss! Boss?"

"Is something wrong?" Ritsuko reiterated in concern. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

"The dumb girl went and picked a fight with Accelerator, apparently, and got killed. Rumor is she barely put up a fight," Mugino sighed. "I know I should be celebrating, but I feel… annoyed. Almost cheated. This isn't how I imagined it- I wanted this position… but this feels wrong." She waved her team away. "Enough, it doesn't matter! I'm going to my room."