The following is a non-profit, fan work based off the respective works of Kazuma Kamachi and Ryūtarō Nakamura

All rights belong to the original creators, J.C. Staff Co., Ltd.; and Triangle Staff

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

A Chapter of The Serial Experiment...

Layer XII: I Am that I Am

I thought I was in the right. I thought I made the correct decision. I thought Alice was the ultimate key to unlock the secrets of Academy City.

I was wrong.

For when I united Alice and Lain; I saw not a great, detailed picture of the underworking of the city.

No, I saw shards. Fragments of memory set on an infinite loop. Memories of nothing but pain and inhuman misery inflicted on dozens of children. Little could have been made from those shards. But as I meditated on them with Lain in my arms, a common motif emerged: two women in lab coats that stood kilometers above Lain. The pair beamed down a wicked grin to the scenes they were in. I quickly arrived at the conclusion that they must have been that Caiaphas woman and…that bitch Kiyama.

From what I gathered Lain was nothing more than experiment. Kiyama failed to mention any of the things I saw.

What I wanted more than anything after that was for my visions to be false. I could not accept that as reality.

Then Uiharu unlocked the drive Kiyama gave to me. I hoped that…that what was in there would be something to refute what Lain showed me. All we seemed to have found was nothing but possible conformation.

The problem was, as I watched that video I felt hollow. While what they did to Lain filed me with rage...I felt nothing for the boy. No spark of any emotion came to me as I watched his body contorted and mangled itself. Even as blood spewed from his mouth and he begged at the top of what remained of his lungs for the cold embrace of death, I could hardly muster the semblance of a feeling.

There was little time to dwell on the development as there was an explosion above and Lain was missing.

"Uiharu, watch after Alice. Come on Sissy," Kuroko took charge. My body couldn't respond. "Sissy!"

"Right," I finally said. I picked up the headset I took from the Anti-Skill officer. It sounded like a life broadcast of a battlefield.

"It's some kind of monster!"

"Oh my go—"

"Another chopper down, send a rescue team stat!"

"Nothing's getting through. Fall back to check point delta!"

I turned it off. "This might not turn out so well," I warned Kuroko. "You might want to stay behind."

"Not on your life. I'll be at your side until the end," she said. I nodded.

We went to the nearest exit and ascended up the latter to the surface. The manhole covering was logged into the second story of a nearby building. The street was ripped apart, the asphalt was cracked with craters that formed a long trail. The light posts lining the street were twisted into knots and jagged bolts. Sparks and flames were spurting on all over the place.

A wing of helicopters rushed over us, following the path of the craters. They broke up after a few dozen meters. The vehicles veered around a point then regrouped after they past said point and continued on.

There was a thunderous rumble from down the way. Kuroko grabbed my hand. I had to resist the urge to retract it as I suddenly found myself on a roof top well over a hundred meters down from where we started.

Teleporting left one with an odd sensation of vertigo. But at least you knew that...enough of you got near-instantaneously moved through space time. A rather terrifying prospect that I'd rather not talk about. Unfortunately the only worthwhile alternative topic was the sounds of destruction coming from down the street.

Kuroko looked to the commotion. "What do you think?" she asked.

"We have our work cut out. Let's get a closer view," I suggested. Kuroko grabbed my hand again and we were right on top of the problem. The source of storm was in fact Lain. Her cloths were now shredded. Only her odd hair style was still intact.

Lain's eyes were now glowing. Each step forward she took released what sounded like a small explosion and added another crater for the moonscape below. Water shot out of a damaged fire hydrant, flooding the street. A couple of abandoned busses were smashed through the front windows of nearby buildings. Wires were ripped out of the ground, supplying a sharp electric undertone for the symphony of destruction playing out.

"Okay, you distract her and get her to turn around. I'll try to talk her down," I said.

"I should avoid trying to hurt her right?" Kuroko sarcastically asked.

"Just be gentle," I quipped. Kuroko dropped me off on the ragged ground and teleported up in midair. She threw some stones in Lain's direction. The rocks burst into fragments seconds after being launched.

Kuroko dropped to the ground. Lain kept going. I rushed over to Kuroko. She started to get up.

"What is going on?" she mumbled.

"Don't joke around," I said.

"Yeah, yeah," she coughed. "But what the hell is she doing?"

"I'm not sure but I've seen her do something like this before. I think. But nothing on this scale," I admitted.

"Why don't you get her attention and I'll just sit here and watch?" Kuroko suggested. I helped her finally stand up.

It wasn't a terrible plan. I picked up a couple of shards of scrap metal and approached Lain. The shards were a bit bigger than what I was used to launching but it would have to do.

I took aim just to the right of Lain. My heart started to pound as my subconscious began to make the calculations. That sensation of flying came back. Reality was starting to bend to my will.

The shot launched forward. It rocked towards Lain.

The girl turned around as the shard reached her. The metal suddenly shot up into the air at ninety freaking degrees! I took a step back as Lain started walking towards me.

That was…what? How? The metal was going faster than the human eye could track. The calculations needed to stop such a thing so precisely with telekinetic powers would probably induce a coma. But Lain didn't even break a sweat doing something even harder!

I finally got a good look at her. Lain had entered some sort of serene rage. There was no malice or anger to be seen; only an ungodly determination. She started walking towards me. The actual destruction in her wake continued to follow her.

"Come on Lain! It's Mikoto!" I shouted to her. The girl ignored my greeting. "Please stop!"

My begging did nothing to slow her down. The storm of debris that was raging around her began to grow. I twirled the other way and rushed to Kuroko. I swung the girl on my back. Sure having her on my back made running through an obstacle course of a destroyed road a hell of a lot harder, I wasn't going to leave her to the mercy of whatever was possessing Lain.

"I don't think talking her down is going to be an option, Sissy," Kuroko hissed as I made it as far as I could go. I set her down and started taking nice deep breaths, bracing myself against my knees with my head almost between my legs. Lain was making her way towards us at an alarming rate.

A helicopter started buzzing somewhere behind us. Kuroko straightened up a bit. She watched as every simple step Lain took added to the multitude of destruction already around her. Fires started to burst out all over the place.

"What…what is she?" she finally asked. I shook my head.

"Some kind of god?" I speculated. At that point I couldn't think of anything else that could stop Lain. She had almost caught up to us.

I heard a light mocking laugh erupt from behind me followed by the click of boots. "There is a slight problem with your hypothesis, Mikoto," the oddly sweet sounding voice of Caiaphas said. I saw a white lab coat and black boots glide past me.

"Gods are made by man," Caiaphas continued. She stopped a few meters in front of me, allowing me to see the small cascade of scarlet locks that made up her hair. I saw her head cock to the side in my direction. "And if you know anything about things made by man: they break." Her last few words were said with a spine tingling venom that only the deaf could miss.

Caiaphas turned her head back to Lain. "Lain Unit 26: requesting Priority Access. Permission: Caiaphas," she mechanically barked.

Lain stopped moving, the junk swirling around her fell to the ground in a cacophony. "Access denied. User Caiaphas no longer has permission to use this unit," Lain quietly shot back.

There was a creepy feel to watching those two talk. On the one hand I wanted Lain to stop, on the other it freaked me out to see someone use a human being like a computer.

"Oh look, Kiyama tried to lock me out. How cute," Caiaphas purred. "Lain Unit 26: Update Current Users from Lifespark Database. Permission Code: Aphrodite."

"Permission Code Accepted. Lain Unit 26 updating current users from Lifespark Database," Lain said in a hypnotic state. "Update complete. User Caiaphas has permission to use this unit."

"Tisk, tisk my dear Harumi," Caiaphas quietly mused to herself. She sighed. "Lain Unit 26: Execute subroutine: Odinsleep."

Lain started to quake. Blood started running out of her mouth and nose after a few seconds. Her eyes stopped glowing and were now heavily bloodshot. The girl unceremoniously collapsed to the ground. Her eyes stared at me, begging me to do something.

"And that Mikoto is why when you go screwing with nature: always build in redundant backups. Kiyama never understood that," Caiaphas matter-o-factly said. She started walking towards Lain. I got up and bolted after her.

I felt a sharp pain in my neck after a step or two. I reached around and yanked out a plastic dart. My legs started to feel heavy. I asked. Drowsiness cast a spell on me. I collapsed to my knees. Kuroko rushed to my aid. "No, take Lain and run," I grunted. Kuroko gave me an incredulous look. "If you love me then do as I said!"

Kuroko nodded and reluctantly teleported to Lain. The two disappeared. I gave myself a jolt of lightning to wake me up. It was enough to get me back on my feet.

Caiaphas shook her head. "You don't know when to quit do you Mikoto?" she asked. She looked up at the sky. Another dart landed on my back.

"You should have surrendered when I gave you the chance," Caiaphas lamented.

"What do you want with me?" I croaked out as the world faded to black.

Caiaphas gently turned around. Her crystal blue eyes glimmered with pride. She cocked her head to the side and with a girlish grin she said to me before everything went away, "Well to save the world of course!"

Fade to Black...

A/N: Well that about wrap things up for The Serial Experiment. I really loved working on this an appreciate everyone who ever clicked on this title. When I started this way back in November I wasn't expecting too many people to ever check this out.

Special thanks has to go to:

demonicDRAMAqueen (of course)

PocketSnails (Hope you liked it)

Bloodydemon666 (See Lain the Avenger)

KuletXCore (Always nice to see you)

And of course everyone who Followed and Favorited TSE while I was still working on it.

You guys really helped. To anyone who favorites or writes a review after this: thank you as well.

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

A Sneak Peak at: Project: Life Spark: The Epsilon Protocols

"Attention students of Academy City."

A helicopter patrols the sky above Academy City. Anti-Skill officers are everywhere on the streets. Students carefully walked the sidewalks, evading the gaze of the Anti-Skill officers.

"Anti-Skill has declared a state of emergency. Please obey any orders given to you."

Pandora walked through the open area of an office building. Her cape flowed behind her, her plasma sword ignited in her hand. The light from sword cast eerie shadows across the room.

"All use of Esper Abilities is forbidden. Anyone caught in violation will be placed in lockdown until after the end of the emergency."

Kuroko was braced against her knees not far away. Her gaze turned away from the bright sword. Sweat poured out of her skin.

"Thank you and have a nice day!"

Lain's empty brown eyes stared down at a chess board with a game in progress. She held the white king in her hand.

"We made a promise didn't we?"

A large lab filled with various equipment used for measuring things related to electricity filled its tables and corners. Centered between the two main tables was a large cylinder connected to monitoring devices.

"Yes I remember."

Lain set down her king and picked up a her queen's bishop. She used it to capture a black rook.

"Then help me..."