Authors note:

OK so sorry for the screw up, I double uploaded the chapter and the one I published had a whole bunch of bunch of errors that I didn't check, here is the proper edited one, sorry again for that.

Hey there guys, here is chapter 2 of the story I apologise for the massive delay, amongst exams and personal life I struggled with time but better late than never I suppose? Anyway I hope you all enjoy reading and please do not hesitate to let me know what you think of my take on things so far. I shall try to be a little more timely with the next chapter assuming this one is well received but cannot promise anything with exams coming up again in the not so distant future.

Update:

So after some suggestions from reviewers and messages from users I took the time to update both chapters spacing in order to make them a little more readable, I hope I was successful in this endeavour and I was also notified of the difference between Chronos and Kronos in mythology so that change has been made. Thanks to those who brought each point to my attention, much appreciated.

Disclaimer:

I do not own the To aru franchise, all rights to the respective owners.

Story start:

She picked up the pace, darting down countless, poor lit alleyways hot on the heels of the suspect in question, the suspect had short, choppy, brown hair and a Tokiwadai uniform. Said suspect was Misaka Mikoto, her pursuer, also Misaka Mikoto.

'I know Academy City is home to the strange but chasing my own clone down after she unexpectedly ran off mid conversation? This is ridiculous even by my standards', Mikoto thought to herself as she ran on.

Her day had started off normally enough, well normal by the standards of someone who was a level 5 esper of Academy City and was now part of a group ran by an honourary level 6.

Mikoto's day started like any other,

"Get off me you pervert!"she yelled sending a large amount of electrical current through her younger roommate who as per usual had decided to take liberties in displaying her affections for her "onee sama" as she woke up.

Mikoto turned towards the bathroom leaving the charred body of her junior on the floor behind her. She took her time taking a shower and changing into her usual uniform before walking back out into the room to find Kuroko sitting around as if nothing had occurred.

"So what's on today agenda for onee sama?" Kuroko asked simply to spark up a conversation.

"Well we all have our first training day with TITAN at midday if you recall that message we all received."

"Ooohh I saw the ape's name and deleted it…"

"Kuroko! You may dislike him but he is still your leader, you can't ignore him! Plus despite what you may think he's a nice enough person." Mikoto's cheeks started to turn red.

"What? why are you standing up for him onee sama? Did he brainwash you! Or worse yet… No silly me you wouldn't like a barbarian like him."

Mikoto's cheeks went a brighter red "y-y-yyeah, no way I'd like him", she stammered.

"What's this, my onee sama has been flustered by that primitive ape! This will not stand!"

"Oh well, will you look at the time, we best be on our way" Mikoto interrupted quickly in a desperate attempt to avoid the conversation entirely.

Both of the girls exited the dorm and started making their way towards district 2 where the Judgement training grounds were. Touma had gained uninterrupted use of the grounds for the day specifically for training his new team, this was only a temporary measure though, apparently he also had a private facility for the group which they would be using.

Some time later they finally arrived at the training grounds

"Yo Biri-Biri, Kuroko!" Touma called out, "about time you 2 showed up, now we can finally get started."

They walked out to the centre of the field,

"Right so first thing's first, I have to introduce the basic idea of magic to all of you and who better to teach you than the walking library of the Anglican Church. I would suggest that you take notes as it's going to be like relearning personal reality."

Mikoto, Kuroko, Saten and Uiharu all nodded before heading over to Index who had Stiyl and Kanzaki standing either side of her. Index smiled,

"So let's begin with a bit of history, magic was invented by people who wished to use power but weren't born with it, those born with power are what you know as gemstone espers."

Index continued the explanation for an hour or so covering the need for religion to protect the mind, the use of runes and much more. After an hour of frantically taking notes Mikoto walked off massaging her temples, she approached Touma

"sheesh talk about a crash course, that was a lot of ground to cover in such a short time."

Touma simply smiled back at her

"If you struggle too much I'll take the time to tutor you and whoever else isn't quite grasping it. It's essential you understand how a threat works before you go about combatting it."

"Ape! How dare you smile at my onee sama! You even made her flustered this morning, that's not acceptable!"

Mikoto went to reprimand her but Touma was already speaking.

"Is that so,"he said with one eyebrow raised at Mikoto, she blushed slightly,

"well seeing as you're so annoyed at me I might as well make use of that annoyance, the next activity is combat training specifically adapting to odd situations and you're going to be my first sparring partner."

Kuroko grinned at this

"You're on ape! But if I win you leave onee sama to me and me alone!"
Touma laughed

"You must have missed the citywide announcement today regarding who you're now up against but you're on."

The two opponents stood at opposite each other 10 metres apart, Touma called out

"the rules are simple, the fight starts as soon as I say go, you can try and defeat me by any means necessary and do not worry about maiming me, I can recover from any physical damage you deal out. Once one minute has passed I will retaliate and the fight is as good as over, if you land a hit on me before that point you win."

Touma paused for a second

"GO!"

With that his eyes flashed with a golden light as per usual and his signature wings appeared from his back, Kuroko grinned, like he could block teleportation. She charged forward and disappeared from view but suddenly reappeared 2 metres in front of Touma.

"What is this? Why can't I get closer!?"

"Time to think outside of the box, I have removed the 11th dimension within a 2 metre radius of me and forcibly restabilized the area, so you can think of it as a teleportation dead zone. 30 seconds remaining."

She grimaced before teleporting again, this time she reappeared 2 metres above Touma preparing to kick him, he simply stepped to the side without looking

"That's more like it, now you're getting it!"

Touma smiled as she approached and started throwing punches. At this point he simply weaved his way through each strike that Kuroko threw at him

"3… 2… 1…. 0"

on zero he flicked his wrist and a burst of energy appeared in front of Kuroko sending her flying back.

"Looks like I win, but I'm impressed that you adapted so quickly, we'll keep working at it." Right, Stiyl, Kanzaki you're up next.

Touma repeated the process for each of them creating a deadzone for Kaori's superhuman strength and speed as well as Stiyl's fire based magic, the results remained the same. Finally it was Mikoto's turn

"Well you've had the most time to observe how this works so I'm expecting great things," Touma said half jokingly.

"You just wait idiot," she smiled.

Touma shook his head grinning

"GO!"

Mikoto immediately pulled out an arcade coin and fired it towards Touma, he stepped off to the side to avoid it

'so electricity is cancelled but not the effects of it' she thought.

She fired one more charging into the dead zone after it and started to strike at him, as expected he started dodging but while this was happening Mikoto began to gather all the iron sand from just outside the deadzone forming small balls with each and surrounding the area while keeping Touma distracted with her hand to hand combat. Finally Touma began the countdown

"3…. 2…. 1…."

"0" they both said at the same time,

as Touma went to flick his wrist Mikoto grabbed it and willed all of the metal balls she had created to fly in at speeds faster than that of sound from all directions. Realising what was happening Touma sent out a blast to destroy them all but the one approaching from behind Mikoto advanced unharmed, Mikoto quickly ducked and at that moment Touma flicked her out of the way only to be hit by the ball resulting in him too being thrown back. All of this had taken place over less than a fraction of a second much to the dismay of everyone observing. Touma burst out laughing before flying over to Mikoto and offering her a hand up

"That was amazing! You used my own complacency in how the previous fights went against me, once I reached the countdown I assumed you were done, I think we can call this a tie Biri-Biri."

Mikoto smiled "I'll accept that, but don't get comfortable I will beat you!"

"Oh really? Even if I remove the restrictions I've placed upon myself and use the true extent of my powers"

Mikoto paled a little "Now that just wouldn't be fair."

"I'm only kidding, I'll have to keep an eye out for your diversions next time."

By this point everyone had approached to congratulate Mikoto.

"Well that concludes training for the day so you are all dismissed, two days from now we will meet at our private facility to pick up where we left off today, more details will follow in a message closer to the time."

Everyone nodded

"Oh also Saten and Uiharu, I apologise for the lack of involvement with you two today but I thought it was important for you to at least be around your new team. I'll get you started on the computer systems at our next meeting."

Saten spoke up "No need to apologise, it was much more entertaining to watch this than anything else we could've got up to."

Touma smiled "Well then, with that I'll be seeing you two later."

Everyone bid their farewell before leaving, Mikoto remained behind much to the horror of Kuroko.

Touma turned to face her "You go on back too, you probably need the rest, flick me a message if you need anything."

"Are you implying that I am weak!?"

"What? No! I'm simply stating that with a human body you require rest after a fight like that."

"hmph, so you're not human?"

Touma chuckled "Only just, catch you later Biri-Biri"

she finally conceded "Fine then, just call me if anything interesting pops up, you can't just leave me out."

"Wouldn't dream of it, same goes for you."

She smiled and nodded "One last thing, what was that announcement you mentioned to Kuroko? we were kinda busy up until we got here."

"Oh right, you are now officially looking at Academy City's only level 6, I knew Aleister wouldn't be able to resist, I am listed as Chronos on the rankings."

"Seems like you were right in your conversation with Komoe and Yomikawa."

"Yeah, anyway you'd better run along to catch up with Kuroko."

"And why would I want to do that?"

They both laughed and with that the pair finally parted ways for the day.

Mikoto made her way back to her dorm with Kuroko and on the way told her of Touma's recent promotion from level 0. The reaction was priceless,

"Why is the ape all powerful?"

was one of the statements she heard Kuroko murmur under her breath, Mikoto couldn't help but chuckle at that. Once they got back Kuroko had to take off to catch up on some Judgement paperwork, both her and Uiharu had kept their jobs at Judgement as well as their new position to try and keep helping with their division.

It was likely that eventually all their work would simply be transferred to TITAN's facility but for now Kuroko and Uiharu were still on call to go and help out. With Kuroko out of the way Mikoto decided to make the most of her time and get some rest uninterrupted by her younger roommates perverted attempts at getting closer. By the time Mikoto awoke it was getting dark outside she wasn't feeling hungry though so she decided instead to take a wander through the city, seeing as curfew now meant nothing time was a non-issue.

After taking a tour around to her favourite bridge she finally wound up at her most hated enemy… The vending machine, she was about to kick it to get a drink when she felt the presence of an ability, more specifically her own ability. She walked up the staircase next to her and found a girl crouched down over a small kitten, she proceeded to tap her on the shoulder

"Excuse me…" The crouched down girl turned her face to look at Mikoto "EEEHHHH!? But you're… m-me?"

"That is correct onee san but before you ask any more you must help me feed this poor animal Misaka says attempting to emphasise importance."

Mikoto looked perplexed by the situation at hand "Fine but we are going to talk about this!"

After many attempts the pair managed to coax the small animal into accepting the food that Mikoto's sister was offering it.

"Well now that's done with I demand an explanation."

"Very well I can tell you non-classified information I am Misaka 9357 but you may refer to me simply as imouto if it's easier Misaka says doing her best to explain the situation"

Mikoto took the news surprisingly well "So imouto, if you're 9357 how many of me are there?"

"There were 20000 but the current number is 10644 including me however they are not all active Misaka says stating the facts."

"10000!? What happened to the rest of me… you… whatever you get what I mean."

"They died as a result of the experiment Misaka informs."

"What experiment!?"

"I do not believe you have the clearance on…"

Mikoto showed her the level 6 clearance I.D, "Now tell me!"

"I'm sorry onee san, you do have clearance but we are approaching the time of the next experiment, you'll have to ask one of the other sisters Misaka explains."

"Wait hold up! You can't go now, at least let me give you this badge so I can recognise you."

Mikoto handed over the Gekota badge she had been carrying with her.

"Did it have to be something so childish onee san? Misaka questions"

"Well then don't take it!"

"No! It is rightfully mine now, it may be childish but it is the first present I have received from onee san Misaka states conveying a little bit of happiness."

Mikoto smiled a little "Alright then, now let's talk."

"Sorry still gotta go Misaka states as she starts running off."

"Oi you! Wait!" So Mikoto bolted off after her clone. And so here she was chasing down herself through the dark alleyways, it had started a somewhat normal day.

When her clone finally stopped it was at an abandoned train yard, standing up on top of one of the crates was a rather skinny albino boy staring down upon Mikoto's sister. '

Wait is that who I think it is?' Mikoto thought to herself.

She stared for a second before remembering her promise to Touma, she pulled out her phone and sent off a message

'You might want to hurry, something big is happening at the abandoned railway yard.'

A reply came through almost instantly 'Chasing magician, will get to you soon.'

'That idiot had better move it, I have a bad feeling about this' Mikoto thought.

As that thought entered her mind the previously quiet environment erupted in gunfire, where had her imouto got a gun from! Not a single bullet harmed the albino individual though, not that she expected it to though, he was the number 1 level 5 afterall… Accelerator. Misaka imouto was out of bullets so she tried electricity, it was reflected straight back at her burning her arm in the process.

This was all happening far too quickly, Mikoto wanted to interfere but how could she? There was nothing she could do against that monster and surely he wouldn't intentionally kill the clone for the experiment.

"Please hurry Touma," she whispered.

Misaka imouto brewed up a storm of iron sand to obscure Accelerator's line of sight and darted off with the opportunity it provided.

Accelerator started laughing "Ohhh I suppose it was only a matter of time before you insects started using your brain, too bad it won't help you."

He stomped the ground causing a large amount of rubble to burst up from the ground quickly followed by a high pitch scream.

"Tchh, hopefully one day you will actually be a challenge but seeing as you proved a little more entertaining than usual I'll kill you quickly."

Misaka imouto could be seen crawling towards something as the dust cleared, a small green badge.

"What is this? Misaka whispers", "this is the first time we have been afraid of death, I only wish I could have spent more time with onee san Misaka says with regret."

At this point she could hear the screaming of someone who sounded a lot like her onee san but it was too late, death had made its move. A shipping container crashed down upon the girl leaving nothing but a red smear in her place.

"Nnooo!" Mikoto screamed,

she had tried to stop Accelerator, she'd fired off a full force railgun to do it but it had simply been reflected away like everything else.

"Wwwhhhyyyyy!?" She screamed with an uncontrollable rage taking over her voice, sparks darting off every part of her body.

"Tch, what a brat, I don't need a reason for all you know it could be for the pure joy of it."

At this point Mikoto lost control entirely electricity arced off every inch of her body and everything metal in the area was hovering around the two facing each other.

"You don't really think you can take me on do you number 3?" Accelerator said with an amused smile.

"Shut up!" Mikoto yelled shooting a bolt of electricity at him powerful enough to take down a small army.

Accelerator grinned insanely "Do that again brat and I'll redirect it straight into you."

At this point Mikoto was beyond thinking rationally, she launched everything she had at him when suddenly she was overtaken by an unimaginable pain. She looked down to see a hole burned straight through her abdomen before falling to the ground screaming in agony.

"What did I say brat, I'll end it quick."

With that he manipulated the wind vectors to lift up another container before turning to her

"A death the same as your beloved sister's, how fitting."

With that he launched it at Mikoto, she closed her eyes and waited for the end, before that could happen though there was a resounding boom that echoed throughout the area, she looked up to see a spiky haired individual with golden wings of energy jutting from his back and to her surprise no container.

"Touma…" She whispered weakly.

"Save your energy Biri-Biri, you will not die on my watch," Touma said gently

she nodded back at him.

He then turned his attention back to Accelerator who still looked shocked

"You" Touma said with barely controlled rage.

He teleported a metre in front of Accelerator before forming a claw of golden energy extending from his left hand and picking Accelerator up by the neck with it.

"You have no idea how tempted I am to end your pitiful fucking life right now but I'm not going to, you'll live knowing how powerless you are, Academy City's strongest? Don't make me laugh, you are nothing to me, let me shatter that illusion of yours!"

Accelerator couldn't move, why wouldn't his vector manipulation work? It made no sense! With that Touma punched Accelerator in the face with Imagine Breaker, the sound of shattering glass could be heard along with the sickening crack of Accelerator's nose breaking with a burst of blood. He screamed in agony before a dome of golden energy appeared over him.

"I've placed you in a zone where your abilities won't work, if you want to survive don't touch the sides and if you dare talk I will reduce the space you have available to move in."

Accelerator nodded, holding back the string of curses he wanted to scream right now, with that much power the boy in front of him could only be one person, the newly appointed level 6, Chronos.

Touma teleported back to Mikoto and proceeded to crouch down to examine her wound gently, the wound itself had been sealed shut by the sheer heat the electricity caused in turn melting the skin but after a look on the inside with his ability Touma could tell she was beyond repair. He looked down at the girl before him pulling her into his arms

"Mikoto, I'm so sorry I can't…."

Mikoto interrupted "Don't apologise idiot, it was my choice", she said with a weak smile, "but seeing as I don't have much time left you should know something…" She paused for a second, no, now was not the time to be embarrassed "Touma, I think I love you."

Touma looked completely dumbfounded a tear started forming in one eye

"Dammit Biri-Biri I love you too."

She let out a genuine smile that made Touma's heart ache

"If only I had held off for that brief moment", she said weakly, "it wouldn't have ended up like this"

Touma shivered on the verge of breaking down and at that point he made up his mind

"No I won't let it end like this."

He steeled his resolve and looked into Mikoto's eyes, he kissed her deeply much to her surprise but she wasn't about to complain even if she had the strength to do so. Touma stood up,

"You will not die on me, not now."

His entire body started glowing gold from within, as the light became almost impossible to look upon he slashed through the air with one of his wings causing a deafening ripping sound. Mikoto looked around but nothing could be seen apart from Touma, he spoke to her gently

"Be prepared Biri-Biri, your fight is only just beginning."

With that a channel of pure black and gold rushed into Mikoto's body from Touma, it completely overwhelmed her causing her to lose consciousness.

Mikoto assumed she would wake up when reality rushed back to them but to her horror something else had control of her body, all she could do was watch. She darted forward forming a sword of electricity on each arm, something was off though, the properties of electricity shouldn't allow for it to become solid like it was currently, just what had happened? Mikoto watched feeling hopeless as she charged towards Touma and started slashing, he kept dodging the strikes thrown at him

"Biri-Biri I know you can hear me and you have to fight! Fight the overwhelming power within you, take control of it!"

Mikoto couldn't respond but she tried as he asked, she exerted as much mental strength as she could, willing her body to act as her own but to no avail. Meanwhile the fight raged on between Touma and the force now inhabiting Mikoto's body, he did nothing to attack her instead he constantly dodged the sword strikes thrown at him along with the bursts of energy she kept releasing from any point on her body. He weaved in and out of the strikes disappearing and reappearing as necessary to stay out of her line of fire.

"Come on Mikoto! Come back, do it for your friends! The Biri-Biri I know isn't this weak she wouldn't let such a lowly being win! She wouldn't let those down around her that care for her…" he paused for a second before saying a little quieter "or those that love her."

With that something in Mikoto snapped, she would not lose, she let out a yell and forced her consciousness back into the drivers seat causing the force to recede back to the realm it came from. Touma saw the swords vanish and Mikoto sway a little on her feet so he teleported over to her as she collapsed into his arms.

"Welcome back." Touma said with a smile.

Mikoto smiled back up at him "Good to be back... hey Touma I know you hate people mentioning the eyes thing but the dragon in your left eye is missing."

Touma chuckled "I know, I gave it to someone in need, someone I trust and more than that," he brushed his hand against her cheek, "someone I refuse to let die."

Mikoto let that sink in for a second and after getting over her initial embarrassment she realised the implications of his statement

"Wait does that mean I'm like you?"

"I'm not 100% sure Biri-Biri, you're the first true level 6, your basic healing and immortality will be the same as me but I gave the second path to the power source to you and it will have latched on to your personal reality so who knows what abilities that will lead to. All I care is that you're alive and I'm sure your friends will agree there."

Mikoto chuckled "So I'm stuck with an idiot for eternity, great."

"Ouch that hurt and there are still some cases in which we can die but I'll explain that another time. For now you need rest but tomorrow you and I are heading out to Verzasca, it's a small secluded area in Switzerland perfect for you to learn the extent of this power and keep you out of Academy City's mitts for a while."

"But what about the sister's project?"

Mikoto paled as the memory of her sister's death came back.

Touma frowned with concern,

"I'd imagine it will stop with the introduction of 2 level 6 espers but to be certain I'll destroy all of the research facilities tonight and have a 'chat' with those responsible. Also I truly am sorry I wasn't quick enough to save her." He finished with a little remorse in his voice.

"Don't blame yourself and I thank you for seeing an end to it, by the way when you said Verzasca did you mean just us?" She asked blushing a lot.

"Well yeah… I'm the only one that understands and would not be at risk with your power and plus it'd give us time to y'know…" He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "work out 'us' and what we are."

Mikoto blushed even more, if that was possible, before she steeled her nerves a little and wrapped her hands around his neck kissing him, as she broke away she said

"well to start with you're mine now and if you try to change that I've got an eternity and the power of a level 6 to make you regret it,"

she winked at him and let a bolt of electricity loose for emphasis.

Touma grinned back at her, "I wouldn't dare, now you need some rest, I'll leave you to sleep in peace in my dorm so Kuroko doesn't bombard you with endless questions."

He picked her up bride style and teleported to his dorm putting her gently down on his bed, he kissed her on the forehead before telling her to rest up and proceeding to teleport away.

Touma felt like he was forgetting something as he walked towards the last lab on his list to destroy, with time slowed down and the ability to read the minds of everyone within the city simultaneously the process had taken no more than 5 minutes up to this point. That's when it occurred to him

"Oh shit Accelerator!" He cursed out loud.

He completely froze time and teleported back to Accelerator, he removed the barrier and grabbed Accelerator's arm so he wasn't affected by the time manipulation.

"OK let's be brief, I'm busy, yes time is frozen, yes that's how I got the name Chronos now on with my main point. If you ever lay a finger on Misaka Mikoto or any of her clones ever again you will have 2 level 6's on your back, understood?"

Accelerator could only nod at the onslaught of information and the threat along with it.

"Good, well then I suggest you scram."

With that Touma teleported back to the lab and put time back to the slower rate from earlier, it could prove difficult to maneuver around a group of people frozen within time and it made evacuation harder when they were frozen, there were no life signs for him to read in that state. Touma scanned for living beings and teleported everyone out before creating a localised singularity to completely obliterate the lab but none of the surrounding area.

All of this took about 30 seconds from Touma's perspective so less than a second for the workers, he located the lead scientist and took him transporting him to a conference room within the TITAN facility along with the rest of the lead scientists, the Kihara family and most surprisingly Aleister.

"All right," Touma said to the bewildered looking group

"I am Touma but you all probably know me better as Chronos, I'm going to keep this short as I have a friend in need of some attention right now no thanks to you lot. I have brought you all here to let you know that I have noted each of you as involved with the sick project involving Mikoto's clones and also to inform you it's over, if any of you so much as attempt to restart it I will erase your very existence from reality and all memories of you along with it. Have I made myself clear?"

Everyone in the room nodded.

"If any of you treat any human in a questionable manner you'll have 2 level 6's to answer to." That raised some eyebrows,

"Also Aleister your plan succeeded you can list Railgun as a level 6 now but the cost to you is simple, to you I am now Chronos and don't expect that to change anytime soon, now back to your tank with you."

With that Touma teleported everyone back to their respective locations before the incident and then transported himself back to the entrance of his dorm, during the time he had destroyed the labs he had also seen to it that all the clones would be taken care of and according to a certain frog faced doctor they would eventually have a somewhat normal life.

This was of some comfort to Touma and he had no doubt that Mikoto would be just as happy to hear the news. He walked into his dorm making as little noise as possible before realising that he had given the use of his bed to another so without making a sound he simply brought another into existence in what space remained on the floor. He lay down slowly and pulled up the covers, tomorrow was going to be a big day, there was a lot to explain to the team and although he was a little worried at their reactions he allowed a smile to grace his lips, Mikoto was safe and what's more they had become closer because of the whole situation.

Touma woke to the early morning sun trickling in through the small crack in his curtains, it was early morning and Mikoto had not yet woken. Touma quietly got himself up making the bed disappear behind him and proceeding to start on some breakfast. Ten minutes later and Touma had prepared a full cooked breakfast with bacon, eggs and hashbrowns for two people. He looked back over his shoulder

"How long have you been awake?" He asked.

"Long enough to be feeling hungry over the smell of cooking food."

Touma smiled, "come and help yourself."

Mikoto scrambled got herself out of bed and joined him taking a plate of food and cutlery. Touma was finally able to take a better look at Mikoto's eyes, they were the same unnatural golden colour as his and her right eye had the black dragon rotating around the centre of her iris. Each of them now bore the mark of someone possessing an otherworldly power, Mikoto was now cursed with an existence that ignored time just like his, she may have thanked him before but would it last?

"So idiot," she interrupted his thoughts, "I assume we have to meet with the team before we leave?"

"Sure do, Kuroko might murder me if we both disappeared without an explanation." Touma said smiling cheekily.

Mikoto laughed a little, "well then you'd better notify everyone, where will we meet?"

"I suppose we have reason to have our tour a day ahead of schedule, it's time for everyone to see our private facility."

With that Touma pulled out his phone and sent off a message to all those involved

'sorry for the short notice but something's come up, meet in district 21 two hours from now at the farthest western point of the border, the tour of our facility will be a day early.'

"Right with that done we should probably get moving to prepare for their arrival." Touma stated

"Makes sense, what about dishes?"

Touma smiled at her before waving his hand at everything gathered in front of them making it all disappear in a flash of light.

"There clean and put away dry, happy?"

"Alright you have got to teach me that!"

"We'll have time later for now grab my hand and we'll head on over to district 21."

Mikoto surprised herself managing this without blushing at all. With that thought they both disappeared from the room they were standing in.

District 21 was on the western most point of Academy City and housed the water storage dams as well as an observatory in the mountains. Being a much less public place was one of the many reasons Touma had chosen it but possibly the largest reason was the ability to leave the mountains and out of Academy City's borders at any time they deemed it necessary.

Touma and Mikoto stood hand in hand with their backs to what looked like nothing but a door leading into a mountain side, if one looked closely however they would be able to see the large glass panes in the mountain acting as windows for anyone within, it would not be inaccurate to say the mountain itself was the building. The group now known as TITAN approached mouths hanging agape staring at the structure before them.

As they grew closer two things became even more apparent than the structural marvel before them, 1 a certain pair were holding hands and 2 both of them now had the same unnaturally gold eyes. Mikoto was blushing madly, Touma had decided that the best way to avoid springing it on the group later would be to bring it up at the beginning which although probably true didn't make it any less embarrassing. At the end of this thought the long awaited collective

"EEEEHHHHH!"

reached the ears of the both Touma and Mikoto damn near deafening them. One person however remained silent, a murderous intent could be felt rolling off her, Kuroko approached speaking quietly in a tone that would make anyone turn heel and run in the opposite direction.

"Onee sama what is the meaning of this? Could it be this is where you were last night? Are those eyes some kind of STD?"

At that even Touma couldn't keep quiet, his face a bright red he looked directly at her speaking loud and fast

"Dear God Kuroko where did you even get that idea!?"

Mikoto was a bumbling mess beside him unsure how to reply and trying desperately to avoid shocking anyone. Calming down a little Touma continued

"I think you should get a medal for managing to scare even an immortal bordering on all powerful being wait scrap that 2 immortal bordering on all powerful beings."

Kuroko's eyes widened going to make a statement before Touma cut her off to continue, addressing the whole group he decided to keep things as simple as possible.

"Last night Mikoto had a brush with death after confronting Accelerator, the only way I could prevent her death was by giving her one of the 2 "doorways" to my power source. In short she's now a level 6 and we are now a couple."

Touma's face reddened a little as he made his final statement. Everyone in the group was stunned into silence, even Kuroko had nothing to say much to everyone's relief, in fact she remained the most silent out of everyone.

After the onslaught of questions and subsequent explanations Touma and Mikoto were finally able to show everyone around the facility. Once inside the 3 metre high transparent doors everything was reasonably open in design, the front desk sat off to the right on the off chance that they needed a receptionist for whatever reason.

From there large marble staircases wound down 1 level and up 2 above with glass handrails. The main floors were each circular in shape with a diameter of 50 metres on the bottom floor getting gradually narrower on each floor going up. The bottom floor had, sitting in the middle, a large glass conference table with white chairs surrounding the outside and a hologram generator in the centre. Simple desks surrounded the outsides of the room for whatever paperwork needed filling out or general work needed completing.

On the far side of the room, opposite the staircase large doors built into the equally large glass panes lining the room opened out onto a balcony with transparent railings as well as tables and chairs with a view out over the magnificent green mountain range. Staircases from both the inside and balcony of the building lead up to the subsequent floors each similar in nature but the second contained computer suite with full access to information with level 5 classification within Academy City.

Finally the 3rd floor had a transparent roof and was decked out with couches a dining table and a fully equipped kitchen for the times that the team simply needed to unwind. By the end of the tour everyone was extremely chatted and excited about what was now available to them, even Mikoto who had seen it prior to the tour was stunned by the facilities she now had available to her.

"Ok", Touma started,

"One final thing, Mikoto and I will be out of town for the next 2 weeks so that I am able to help her adjust to her new level of existence. I will be keeping tabs within the city and will notify you of anything I want you to look into and what actions should be taken. If for some reason there is an emergency and I somehow don't know about it give me a call, even if I don't pick up I'll be on my way over."

The group nodded in agreement to the new situation.

"Alright with that I bid you all farewell, do feel free to enjoy using this space however you see fit, just try to keep the workspaces clean please."

With that Touma took Mikoto's hand once more and they both vanished with a flash of light that was becoming all too familiar to the new group.

The pair arrived at a small stone house looking out over a boulder filled river, surrounded by green plains, mountains and cliffs as far as the eye could see, they had arrived in Verzasca.

"Are you trying to be romantic idiot?" Mikoto broke the silence with a smirk on her face.

"What? No! This just happened be an appropriate place to help you learn to use your new abilities!" Touma replied frantically.

"Oh really? Because it may have been working a little."

The second part of the statement was said under her breath. Despite this Touma caught on and smiled pulling her into a hug, both of their faces were bright red but that was alright they had 2 weeks to sort out this feeling.