Even Monsters Have Hearts

Accelerator looked over at the pile of metal beams and thought of how if he was even just a second later, they would have been crushed under that pile. He would have been fine because of his auto reflect ability, but Awaki on the other hand would not have been so lucky. The only way she could have gotten out of that mess was to teleport herself out of danger, but Accelerator knew that she has had trouble teleporting herself because of a past trauma. She was slowly getting over it, and a near-death situation is not the best place to go testing things out. This was obviously not some convenient accident. They were being targeted, but the question was who had the nerve to do such a thing?

"You must have a big pair on you if you think you can live after pulling a stunt like that!" Yelling at the top of his lungs Accelerator began to scout the area, looking for his prey. The only response that was given was pure and empty silence. Accelerator became impatient of waiting and set Awaki down back on her feet. "Alright you assholes, if you want to play this game then by all means, let's play. It'll make it all the better for me when I find you and shove your heads up your assholes!" His threat that was complemented with a maniacal cackle echoed throughout the deserted street. This had sent shivers down Awaki's spine. She could not understand why, but she did not like seeing the young man like this. Not too long ago, the two of them were bickering over utter nonsense. They even had a somewhat normal conversation, which was actually amazing in itself, considering their history.

Before, when they were still in GROUP, she could have cared less about her 'teammates' well being. All that mattered to her back then was to go out and complete every mission that was given and to receive payment. It's not like she had a choice anyways. If she were to refuse any missions that she was given, then there would be consequences. If it was not for the higher-ups having leverage on her, she would have just went on with her daily life as a student of Academy City. But of course with her luck, the higher ups had different plans for her. Because of that, she did not even care if she had to rile up Academy City's Monster herself to heighten her chances of success with any of the missions given.

'Academy City's Monster?' She watched the boy's back as he walked towards the area that was attacked, her heart ached. 'No… that's wrong… He isn't a monster…' Awaki mentally slapped herself for foolishly calling Accelerator a monster. Academy City's number one marched onwards, cracking his fingers and neck along the way. Awaki was still stuck in place, unsure of what to do in this situation. During their time in GROUP, she would have been rearing to jump into the fight, but something just felt off about this situation. She focused at the young man, feeling that she would find the answer if she focused hard enough. 'He was forced to kill... Just like me, he killed in order to keep the ones he loved safe. The higher-ups threatened to harm those in our lives if we did not do what they asked us to do. But now that we are released from the clutches of the underground, he doesn't need to kill anymore. I can't just let him go through with this, I have to stop him!'

She took a couple of steps forward towards the boy with an outstretched arm trying to stop his pursuit, but the hostile pressure and malice that he was emitting was admittedly too intimidating to approach. She would be lying if she said that she was not afraid of Accelerator at the moment. She hated the fact that she had to admit that, but despite having that fear she could not just let him go.

He continued his pursuit cackling hysterically along the way.

She didn't want him to go.

He wanted to do nothing but kill.

'No, this isn't right. I have to stop him, and get out of this area!'

Accelerator reached the spot where he and Awaki had been before, having a seemingly normal conversation. It may have been for only a brief moment, but he thought about the events leading up to this point. 'I guess it was pretty stupid of me to think that I could start on a path to a normal life. A person like me with the blood of over ten thousand clones on his hands trying to do so is just a big joke. Hell I easily killed many more after I was sucked into the underground organization of Academy City. Me, a fucking hero? I'm far from it. I already let go of the ideal of becoming a hero. That bastard level zero showed me that it wasn't about being a hero or a villain. What mattered was standing up and doing everything I can to protect the ones that are important to me.' He took a deep breath before he scanned the area once more.

He was never much of a sentimental person; then again, he was never really given the opportunity to be sentimental. All for the sake of research while growing up, he was asked to do various things using his abilities without question. The point in his life when the researchers took him in, he was no longer human. He did as he was told with no question just to get acknowledgement, but that became sparse as time passed by. He was not stupid enough to look away from what his true value was to that research facility. A disposable man made weapon of destruction. A boy whose innocence was taken away at such a young age was nothing more but a monster. Oddly enough, he always accepted that fact.

It was because he was a monster that he could kill.

'I can kill. I can stop things from getting worse. It may be wrong to think this way, but I'm the only one who can do this. I'm already a murderer, so instead of others getting their hands dirty, I will do it for them. There are people who do not need to get involved in the affairs of the underworld, and I'll make damn sure that I prevent the underworld from taking hold of them.' Accelerator's mind went on to thinking about those who were involved in his life, and pictured them being taken away from him. There was Last Order, who basically forced herself into his life. Misaka WORST, who decided to tag along as a means to observe the boy as he tried to reconcile with his past. Yoshikawa Kikyou, who knew Accelerator the longest, and if he had to be honest was probably the closest thing to a mother figure he had. Yomikawa Aiho, a woman who accepted Accelerator and both of the girls he was a pseudo guardian for without any question and gave them a place to call home.

What was even more interesting to the boy was that he started thinking about GROUP as well, and its former members. He couldn't really say that they were close at all since it was strictly business with them, but the time spent doing missions together was there. To think that A couple of months ago, there were barely any people who wanted to be even near Accelerator. Life can be strange in a sense that you can never really tell what it will throw at you.

But that is exactly what worried Accelerator. Now that there were more people involved in his life, there was now this uncomfortable feeling of pressure and anxiety. One small mishap and he could lose everything. He strongly refused to let any mishaps happen. With that thought in mind Accelerator readied himself to jump up to the top of the building where the metal beams originally came from, but was stopped when he felt someone grab onto his wrist. He made sure not to let his ability dismantle the surprisingly soft hand that pulled lightly to keep him from moving. If he wanted, he could have wrenched his wrist away from the culprit, the grip was not strong at all.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Musujime?!" He barked as he turned towards the girl who had grabbed his wrist.

"Accelerator, let's just get out of here…" She pleaded while trying her hardest to not turn away from his piercing gaze. Accelerator sighed at the young girl's request.

"How about you get the fuck out of here like the scared little girl you are! I don't know if you noticed, but some fucker just tried to us! I have to identify who the fucking assailant is!" Yelling, Accelerator yanked his arm to try and get her to release him, but she just held on tighter which in turn pulled her closer to him. She used her free hand to brace the impact of colliding with his chest. The girl could no longer bring herself to look up at Academy City's strongest, she could not get rid of the fear she has of being hurt.

"Let me go, before I rip your arm off!" He threatened as he stared down at the top of the auburn haired girl's head. Awaki knew that his threat was not an empty one. In the state he was in, he would do it if she was not careful, but if she let him go right now, he would only fall deeper into the darkness. The only thing she could do was plead some more.

"Please?" Awaki pleaded again as her grip tightened not only on his wrist, but on a piece of the boy's shirt where here hand rested as well. Accelerator, who was on the verge of yelling at her one last time, stopped himself as he noticed that his acquaintance's body was shaking all over ever so slightly. She was afraid, not because of some random person who was after their lives. What she feared was Accelerator himself.

"Look, Awaki, I honestly don't know what to say in this situation. But now is not the time to think, we have to act before something else happens. Now let go." He half expected her to pout some more, but she ended up letting go. Before he could turn around, Awaki wrapped her slender arm around his, and quickly pulled out her flashlight.

"I'm sorry Accelerator… I kept asking to get your consent, but seeing as you are stubborn as hell, letting go is not an option right now!" She needed to get them out of there. And she had to do it now. Focusing on a destination, she settled for the alleyway a couple of blocks away. In just a flick of her wrist the two espers disappeared from the deserted street.

In Between the Lines

With the departure of the two espers, the street was quiet. In the graveyard of metal construction beams, a lone beam off to the side started to warp in and out of its physical form, and changed into a shape of a young man. The man climbed to the topmost beam and sat on it, pulling out his phone to make a call. It only took a couple of rings before the call his answered.

"Sorry to say boss, but the target got away. There's also another person with the target, I don't really know what their abilities are but should I pursue them?" The man asked into the phone.

"No, that will be alright Bryce. We know close to nothing about the target's companion's abilities, you have done your part." Pierre's voice responded on the other end. Bryce took this time to take out a cigarette and light it up.

"Yeah, I was too careless. If only they had taken just one more step, they would have entered my field, and this job would be finished. Well, for safety measures I have the area on lockdown. There isn't anywhere that the target could escape to without setting off one of my charms to keep track of the target." Bryce took a long and slow drag from his cigarette and let the smoke sit in his throat before slowly exhaling it out. "After seeing the target myself, I sure as hell am not going to let them out of my sights. She had mighty damn fine legs and her juicy hips and chest are not something to scoff at. I'd love to see what her face looks like when she's terrified. Just thinking about the despair on her face as I have my way with her, man I'm getting excited just thinking about it!"

"Bryce, focus on the job that has been given to you." Pierre commanded. The Neo World Order's leader knew of the tendencies that the fellow member, Bryce Powers, had when it came to women. Despite being only sixteen, Bryce was trialed as an adult and convicted of multiple offenses of rape and murdering of women, the order in which those actions were carried out wasn't necessarily in that order all the time. He was supposed to serve a lifetime in prison, but after forming a contract with a demon, he was able to escape within a year.

The formation of that contract was what landed Bryce a position in the Neo World Order. The order itself was a group of magicians, but unlike the Roman Catholic division, The Neo World Order were magicians that embraced the ideas of science as well as the magic world. In fact, all the members of the order were exiled from the Roman Catholic sect.

"I understand boss, but like you said before, as long as the target, Musujime Awaki was captured alive then the mission is a success. Me just having a couple of squeezes out of her should be fine." Taking another drag from his cigarette, Bryce took a look at his watch noticing that it was almost nine in the evening. "How is the second team doing? Are they set up for the second phase of our plan?"

"The temporary home base is all set up; we just need to capture the target now. After that everything should fall into place." Before Bryce could respond, his phone gave a notification of another member calling.

"Ah, I'll contact you later boss, I have another call coming in from Methi… I will keep you updated on the target. Later." Hanging up to pick up the next call, he reached down pulled a knife from its holder that was strapped to his right leg. "Found the target?"

"Y-yeah, it looks like they tried to escape through an alley way a couple of blocks from your area. I'm w-with Bijan Poptal currently in pursuit, if they ever go into a secluded area I w-will use my binding spells to keep them in place until you get here." The voice that responded was low and muffled, a mixture of nervousness and trying to keep a low profile. Methi Krojak was a magician that specialized in cloaking spells, and binding spells. The newest member of the Neo World Order, Methi was still a greenhorn when it came to missions. Bryce couldn't stand Methi's usual nervous personality, but Methi's abilities were of use to the order, so he had to tolerate it.

"Do me a favor and make sure you bind the target in a compromising position for me. I'll give you my bonus if you can get her tied up and naked." The convict requested as he examined his sharpened knife. The young man on the other line became uneasy.

"Y-you know, I don't think that would really be a n-nice thing to d-do Bryce."

"Yeah and no one asked for your opinion you damn virgin. Now if I get there and there's no feast waiting for me to devour, then I am going to spill your guts all over the place. I am your fucking senior, so do what I fucking tell you to do. I'll be on my way, don't mess this up greenhorn." Hanging up before Methi could respond, Bryce took one last drag from his cigarette. He stood up after ending the conversation flicking the cigarette a distance away from him. The man watched as the cigarette floated through the air. To any normal human being the cigarette would just fall to the ground in a short time, but everyone has different perceptions of time. This man had a perception that only few had. Focusing on the cigarette he readied his knife in hand. In a flash, the man disappeared from the area with a small sound of wind flowing. What was left on the street was the cigarette as it was cut into many pieces before it hit the ground. This marked the beginning of the hunt.

In Between the Lines End

The alleyway that the two espers had teleported to was pretty dark. It was a good place to start their escape. Accelerator looked around and sensed no danger, and so he flipped his electrode back off, and leaned against a building's wall to support him in standing.

"Tch, you could have at least teleported my cane with us. Well whatever, I can still limp around without it." Using the wall as a support, Accelerator walked along the alleyway. "So are you coming with me or what?" After a few steps he felt a small tug on the back of his shirt. When he turned to face Awaki, he noticed that she had her left hand gripping onto his shirt and her other free hand covering her mouth. She didn't look okay to say the least.

"Ugh… hold on, I'm coming with you, I just feel a little sick." Was the reply that she gave him as she moved her hand down from her mouth to her stomach.

"Well I'm going to leave you behind if you don't walk faster. And don't you dare puke on me! If you do I'll shove it all back down your throat."

"You're so mean… urk… I should be fine I just need a couple deep breaths." She replied, but Accelerator did not give her the chance to get a breather, he continued to walk instead.

"Well if you have enough energy to complain, then you have enough energy to walk, let's go. We need to get to a place where I can charge this." Accelerator motioned towards the electrode switch that was strapped on his neck.

"Ugh, fine. I would ask you to carry me, but seeing as you're crippled that would be insensitive of me now would it? Man you're so useless." Awaki still held onto his shirt as they ventured through the dark alleyway, her other hand rubbing her upset stomach.

Accelerator ignored her last statement as he continued to scan the area to make sure they were not being tailed by the enemy. There was nothing out of the ordinary, just an average alley. A couple of garbage bins lined the walls and a select few had rodents in them. Although he could not feel any hostility he could feel that they were definitely not alone, someone was watching them. Accelerator brainstormed reasons for why they would be targeted. He thought of many possibilities, but couldn't draw a conclusive answer, he would probably have to rely on gathering information from other people. The exit to a street was not too far off but he stopped walking, causing Awaki to bump into him with a short squeal.

"You know you could have warned me that you were going to stop walking you jerk. Ugh I think bumping into you only made my nausea worse… I think I'm going to puke." As she attempted to push down the urge to vomit, Awaki's grip tightened on Accelerator's shirt.

"Hey, could you be more useful and at least support me? I kind of don't have my cane with me since some dumbass forgot to teleport it with us…"Accelerator grabbed the wrist that was holding his shirt, and pulled her closer to him.

"H-hey don't be so forceful! And it's not like I agreed to help you out!" Ignoring her complaints Accelerator wrapped his arm around her shoulders as a make shift crutch. Awaki's cheeks burned from the blush that appeared on her face. She wanted to just jump away from him, but if she did that, Accelerator would probably fall over, pissing him off more. "Who the hell said you could touch me?!"

"Just stop with all the fucking complaining already! Don't make me rip you apart in this dark alleyway. Now make sure I don't fall." After getting yelled at, Awaki wrapped her arm around his waist to give the boy more support to keep him up. She had started to walk but stopped when she noticed that Accelerator stood in place.

"Well aren't we going to move? I would much rather we get out of here as soon as we can. I have a curfew and all." She asked while observing the boy.

"Who the fuck cares about some bullshit curfew, with the way you dress, you look like you're used to working the street corners late into the night. Now hold still." Ignoring Awaki's disapproving frown, Accelerator found a brick near his right foot. 'perfect' looking back up, he examined the alleyway's exit. There was something off about it, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Figuring that the darkness in the alleyway gave him enough cover he reached up to his electrode switch and flipped it back on.

He reeled his right foot up behind him, and sent a kick towards the brick. Once he had made contact, he altered the vector of the brick and sent it flying towards the exit at a high speed. Awaki was confused of what was going on, but when she saw that the brick had made contact with something in mid air, her confusion was erased.

"Ow! That fuckin hurt you lil piece shit!" Appearing out of nowhere a man was sprawled over on all fours holding the spot where the brick had hit him, square between the legs; the achilles' heel of men.

"Whoa, nice shot! How did you know that he was there?" Awaki had asked as the two espers walked closer to the fallen man who was still writhing in pain.

"It was just a hunch I had. Stay behind me, it looks like he has a weapon." He let go of Awaki and got ready to fight. The man finally caught his breath and stood up, he brandished a handgun and pointed it straight at Accelerator's head. There was about twelve feet between the two, a distance that was easy to hit a target from. Between deep breaths the man glared at Accelerator as he began to speak.

"Yer goin to pay for that ya lil prick, have any last words before I blast yer fuckin head off?!" Cocking the handgun to get a bullet into the chamber the man aimed for Accelerator's head again.

"Ahhh? Last words? The hell are you talking about? If anything I should be asking you that question." The number one esper retorted as he took a couple of steps forward. A monstrous aura filled the alley way that sent a chill down both Awaki, and the other man's spine. The man began to sweat as he tightened his grip around the gun. The eerie smirk that was on Accelerator's face bothered the man. No sane person could ever make a face like that.

"Stay the fuck where you are! Do you want me to blow yer brains out?!" The man screamed.

"That's a pretty fun idea, maybe you should try it?" Accelerator taunted as he ignored the request to stand still.

BANG!

The sound of a gunshot echoed loudly throughout the alley. The two men looked at each other before one fell down to their knees. The number one esper looked down at the man. An expression of fear and confusion written all over the man's face, but that only enthralled Accelerator.

The boy bent over to pick the guy up. Accelerator wasn't strong physically, but with Vector Control, he was able to pick up the man quite easily. He slammed the man up against the wall to start his interrogation. "Okay you no named bastard, who the fuck sent you?!"

"Urk… You really think… that… I'd tell you?" That response earned the man a quick knee to the stomach. "Oof—Fuck you, do what you want with me, my lips are sealed." The man with ragged breathing glared into the white haired esper's eyes.

"Well if we are going to play this game…" Accelerator pulled a knife out of the pouch that was strapped to the man's left leg, and immediately stabbed the man's left leg.

"OW FUCK! UGH. STOP, IT HURTS!"

"Oh does it? Well it would seem like it doesn't hurt enough for you to speak so…" Accelerator pulled the knife out of the man's leg earning him a painful cry from the man. "Oh I'm sorry did that hurt? It kind of sucks to use this kind of hunting knife, getting stabbed by it is one thing, but the ridges along the blade make it even more painful to pull out. Here I'll just leave it in your leg." Stabbing a different spot on the leg, the man yelled out more obscenities.

"Please… Just stop it… I can't say anything about it okay? They'll kill me if I open my mouth. I'm just paid to capture that girl behind you." He pointed to Awaki who was standing behind Accelerator. Upon noticing that there was no one else that could apply to, Awaki looked over Accelerator's shoulder and pointed at herself.

"Huh? Who the hell would want me dead?" She asked the man, now interested in the conversation.

"No, they don't want you dead. They want you captured alive… That's all I can say… Anymore and I will be killed." The man tried to plead with his life, but Accelerator slammed the guy against the wall again.

"Well I could kill you too, no problem. I shall grant your death wish and send you to the lowest level of hell!" Accelerator pulled the knife out and jammed his finger into the wound. Awaki's stomach churned at the sight, so she turned around to avoid watching. "You know I have the ability to control all vectors. Right now I have access to your blood stream, now what do you suppose would happen if I were to reverse the flow of your blood back into your beating heart?" A grin plastered on his face, Accelerator looked over at the man who had tears in his eyes.

"Stop… Please… I don't want to die, someone please save me." He begged a bit delirious. Something was off, the man was no longer keeping eye contact with Accelerator, and staring off to the distance towards the roof of the buildings. Not wanting to waste time Accelerator gave the man one final chance.

"I'll give you to the count of three to tell me what I want to know… One…" The boy counted.

"Methi! I know you're watching! You little fuck this is your fault! You lost focus on your spell that I was spotted! Take fucking responsibility!" The other one screamed.

"Two…." Time was running out for the man, but he showed no signs of cooperating. "Three-" Before Accelerator could count to three, the man's facial expression changed. confused, Accelerator looked into the man's eyes. They were devoid of life. The next instant caught him off guard. The man's body had expanded and exploded sending blood and guts everywhere. Luckily for Accelerator he could reflect everything so none of it got on him.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me…" Awaki, on the other hand, had no such skill or luck for the matter. She was covered from head to toe with the man's remnants.

"Well it sucks to be you." Accelerator tried to hold himself back from laughing at the sight. "In any case we didn't get shit from this guy, besides the fact that they want you captured." The boy was irritated due the fact that he got close to no information.

"Well if you didn't go and make the guy explode we probably could have gotten something eventually… Damn I feel so gross… I need a bath like, right now." She looked herself over and hung her head in defeat. "Seriously fuck you for reflecting all of that shit to me."

"Well it's not my fault my auto-reflect pushed it onto you. But there is something that's bothering me…" The girl returned her attention to the boy after giving up on trying to clean herself of the mess.

"What do you mean? You were threatening to kill the guy, didn't even give him a full count to three." Awaki asked as she looked over to the remains of the man who was previously there. Accelerator frowned as he also looked at the scene.

"I didn't do anything to make him explode…" Inspecting the man's remains, Accelerator kicked the man's dethatched arm that was on top of a mechanical looking backpack. "Maybe it had something to do with this?" Upon closer inspection, the mechanical backpack had tubes and needles sticking out of it.

"Are those needles?" Awaki had asked when she got closer to inspect the backpack like thing as well.

"It looks like this guy could have been injected, but we can't rule that as the cause of death so fast. We don't have much evidence to go by." Picking up the mechanical object, Accelerator made his way to the street. "Musujime, let's get out of here, it's not like in the past when there would be people to clean up after our missions. We should lay low for the night. Besides I want to look over this backpack thing. Hopefully it could give us some clues of who's keeping tabs on us."

"Well where do you suggest we go? I'm kind of a walking piece of evidence with all the blood and guts on me… and I don't think that my guardian would ignore the fact that I got home so late, let alone filthy with blood." Awaki crossed her arms, but uncrossed them right away because of the sticky feeling it gave her. "Ew, this is so gross…"

"All you do is complain, at least they don't want you dead. Damn it, you're going to leave bloody footprints everywhere you step, come here." He hoisted the mechanical backpack on his right shoulder, making sure to have the needle side point away from his back. He walked over to Awaki, and picked her up in a princess carry.

"Umm what the hell are you doing? You're going to get blood all over yourself!" She asked quizzically, as she tried not to make eye contact with Accelerator, not needing to hide her blushing cheeks because of the blood all over her.

"I don't want you leaving any traces that we were involved. I'll just use my ability to make sure that none of the blood gets on the ground. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time that my hands are be stained with blood…" The boy solemnly added as he began to walk. Awaki had no words to respond to his last statement. She stayed silent, normally words of comfort would be given here, but she didn't even know where to start. She did not know of his past, they weren't in a kind of relationship that would be considered friendship, but the feeling of the boy's slight squeeze of his hands that held her up gave an indication of the pain he felt as he said those words. She just maintained her gaze on the boys face as he walked. The silence between the two was cut short as they turned a corner. "I'm pretty sure that one of the old hideouts is around this area, we could lay low there for now." He stated as he made way towards another alley.

The trip itself probably took a total of five minutes, and after getting into the hideout. Accelerator went straight to the bathroom and placed Awaki into the tub. After washing his hands he took off his blood stained shirt and tossed it into a garbage bag he found in one of the cabinets. the auburn haired girl could feel her face heat up as she would make quick side glances at the boy's shirtless torso. He wasn't overly muscular at all, but he was still surprisingly fit. It was a perfect balance and Awaki could not help but feel other parts of her body heat up from the sight.

'Oh God, what am I even thinking about?' The girl mused as she hugged her legs and buried her face on the top of her knees. 'There are people out to kidnap me, and here I am getting hot and bothered over a jack-ass!' More ruffling noises could be heard accompanied by another thing being tossed into the garbage bag. Turning to see what that sound was, the young girl spotted accelerator in nothing but his underwear looking at her.

"So when are you going to take your clothes off as well Musujime?" The nonchalant question threw the young maiden's mind into hyper drive.

"Wait what?! I think we are taking things too fast, I mean I am flattered and all, and it's not like I really mind if it was you or anything, but I need time to prepare myself! And not to mention that I am covered in blood, I need to at least shower!" Her mind went from zero to a hundred miles per hour in a matter of seconds. Accelerator did not understand what she meant, nor did he want to waste time trying to make heads or tails from her outburst.

"I have no friggin' clue of what you are talking about but I need you to toss your dirtied clothes in this bag before I take it and burn the evidence. I also found some spare clothes for you. Take your time, I will be inspecting the back pack we picked up from earlier." Setting the clothes and towel within Awaki's reach, Accelerator put on some of the spare clothes and made his way back to the main living room of the hideout. Awaki mentally slapped herself for making a fool of herself.

"Way to mess that one up big time Awaki. Stupid!" She sighed as she undressed and tossed the clothes into the bag as she was instructed.

In the other room, Accelerator sat in front of the back pack and started examining it. Being careful not to accidentally prick himself with the needles.

"Well since there are no labels or anything that indicates the company that made this…" Accelerator ripped up the mechanical backpack until he got to the core of it that contained a hard drive. Dethatching it from the electronic board he figured he could at least see what the backpack was used for by accessing the files on it. He smashed the rest of the back pack up and tossed it's remains in the trash. "All I have to go by is the name Methi... The guy was practically screaming his name before he died." Musing over the topic some more Accelerator decided to kick up his feet on the coffee table as he sat in the couch. "So that means that there was at least another person near the area, but what's even more concerning is the what that guy was invisible. There are some espers that can sort of blend in to their surroundings kind of like chameleons, but completely going invisible and cutting off the presence is something I am not familiar with." The boy brought his hand up to the device on his neck. With no way to charge the electrode, he decided it was time to at least write instructions for his former team member, in case he isn't able to communicate properly with it being offline. "Well I guess we will just have to think more on this tomorrow. I'm sure that they will not send any more attacks tonight since they just lost a member. If they had a really big organization they would have had no qualms in sending many people to their deaths. But it hasn't happened yet, so they must have a somewhat small group in this operation."

Musujime Awaki eventually emerged from the bathroom and spotted Accelerator sitting on the sofa waiting for her. She still felt a little awkward being in his presence after her earlier outbursts, and it didn't help that all she wore was an over sized shirt and panties underneath. Nothing but thoughts of how she wished her shirt was longer kept running through her head. Despite her inner turmoil, they needed to discuss, what to do next.

"So what do I do now? Do I just stay in hiding?" She asked as she took a seat across from the boy. She noticed the boy bring his sights on her legs and slowly raised it up to meet her gaze. She immediately got up and walked over to sit next to Accelerator out of embarrassment of his gazes. She felt as if he was undressing her with his eyes. Whether or not the boy was doing so was not the main issue. After noticing his quizzical expression of her action Awaki decided to explain herself. "Sorry, I just kind of feel awkward sitting across from you dressed like this."

"So you mean to tell me that the only time it's okay to look at you is when you wear your normal exhibitionist get-up? Normally you would be teasing me right now." The boy asked seemingly a little disinterested, which made the girls heart ache a little. They were getting off topic, but Awaki kept going with this topic anyways.

"Well, to be honest it's a little more complicated than that. I don't know I guess I've just been feeling weird recently." She responded as she averted her gaze away from the boy who was making her feel this way in the first place.

"Well I apologize. I shouldn't have looked, though to be fair you can't really blame me. I think a lot of people would turn their heads if you came out of a bath with just a long t-shirt on and with your hair down."

"What, are you going to make another prostitute reference again, you asshole?" The girl asked a little upset. Accelerator looked at her and thought for a bit before responding.

"Well no, I was going more along the lines of it's kind of hard not to look when you are so alluring. Your hair looks nice when it's down by the way." Still keeping a disinterested expression Accelerator turned away, but Awaki was able to catch a slight blush on his face. The same could be said for the young maiden, her cheeks started to flare up of embarrassment.

"Ugh I don't understand you! How can you say that! You usually just harass me and make me feel like shit, but with all the things that happened today I can't just get you!" Getting off of the couch to stand in front of the boy, Awaki had began to vent out her frustrations. "If anything has been weighing on my mind, it's the fact that I don't even know how to act around you anymore! Do I treat you like I used to back when we were still in GROUP? Do I treat you like a friend? Last time I checked we weren't close enough to be friends! I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore it's so frustrating!" She sat on the coffee table that was in front of the sofa and brought her legs up to rest her head on her knees as she closed her eyes. "And to top it off I have random bastards trying to kidnap me , and I have no idea why or what they would even do to me. Everything is just scary and confusing, I don't even know what I'm supposed to do from here."

As the boy watched her, he decided then and there that he could not just leave her alone. In some ways he was already involved in this mess, he may as well finish it. Hearing the girl rant, also made him realize that he also was not really acting like his usual self. She did bring up a point, they barely spoke to each other even while they were in GROUP, and the only time they did talk was always an argument. He couldn't really say that they were friends, in fact Accelerator does not even know what it means or feels to be friends with someone. People do say it should come naturally, but what is considered natural? He's lived his whole life as an experiment, and after that his life transitioned into the underworld. Normal was kind of a hard concept to grasp in this situation. Either way, the silence between the two was not uncomfortable, but he could not just leave things the way they are.

"First thing tomorrow we need to go to my apartment and get this thing on my neck charged. After that we need to ask an acquaintance of mine to examine the contents of this hard drive. Then we can decide what to do from there." Accelerator stated, which caused Awaki to raise her head in confusion.

"We? What do you mean by that?" She asked a little unsure, yet a little hopeful.

"Well can't leave a useless piece of shit like you alone in this situation now can I? Who else would I argue with if you get kidnapped?" He responded while sporting a smirk on his face. Awaki giggled at his response.

"Well there you go again being a jackass. But I guess that's the way it should be huh? I suppose I was just over thinking things!" She returned a smile to the boy.

'This is how things should be. Seeing her down rather than her usual over-confident and smug attitude is not right. She has the right to live a normal life, and those bastards that are after her are not going to take that right away from her.' With those thoughts in mind, the boy got up and handed the girl a piece of paper with an address on it

"This is the address of where I live. I'm pretty sure that the battery on this electrode will be out by the morning. I am going to have to rely on you to get us there with your ability." Walking towards the bathroom to take a bath he could hear the girl call out to him.

"Why are you helping me Accelerator?" She asked as the boy stood there thinking of how to respond to her. It didn't take long until he turned to face her.

"Well I can't just leave a friend of mine who is in need right?" Just like earlier that day, Accelerator donned a small smile that made Awaki's heart skip a beat.

'Ugh, damn it there it is again! Just a smile from him and my heart starts racing! It's almost as if—' Her mind stopped. She was shocked, if what she was thinking was true, then that would explain a lot of the emotions she has been feeling the past few hours. 'Does that mean that I like Accelerator?!' She internally screamed as her face turned a crimson hue. 'Well… I guess I wouldn't be opposed to the idea?'

"Well that's one of the reasons anyways, I suppose you can also think of it as payment for the nice view you gave me sitting on that coffee table. Now if you will excuse me I need to take a bath then go to sleep, I suggest you get some rest as well. Don't girls usually need their beauty sleep or something?" He closed the bathroom door not waiting for her response. Awaki just there in silence as she tried to process what the boy had just said.

"The View?" Looking down the girl remembered that she was only wearing a long T-shirt and having her legs up during her rant gave a perfect view of what the shirt was innocently trying to hide originally. She was thankful that she had at least decided to wear her underwear, but even that doesn't really help the matter out all that much. "Damn it Accelerator! Why didn't you say anything earlier!" Fuming and embarrassed, Awaki stormed into the only bedroom and slammed the door locking it behind her.

Accelerator heard her outburst as he was filing up the bath, normally he would have said something as a retort, but it was getting late. He also felt that it was not his responsibility to give her notice of her accidental private show, so in a way it was kind of therapeutic moment after a stressed induced night. He thought back to that imagery. Awaki's long silky legs as she sat across from him, to the part where she sat on the coffee table in front of him. The perfect view that showed her womanly assets, covered by a light blue piece of fabric that hugged snugly to her waist and bottom. His thoughts ended once he noticed that the bath was almost ready. After feeling the water and it's warmth, the boy decided to drain it all and remake the bath.

"Well I think it would be best to take a cold bath tonight." Speaking to no one in particular he decided to take a cold bath to help calm down his body. There was a spot in particular between his legs that had been ignoring his pleas to calm down. "Well, I am a guy after all…"

After taking a quick bath, Accelerator put on spare clothes he found and walked back into the main room. He looked over to the room that Awaki had stormed into and concluded that she was done for the night. That was when the boy realized something.

"Hold on… There were more than enough extra clothes for her to wear. Why the hell did she just wear a Shirt?" Accelerator's mind shot back to the imagery of the girl earlier, but immediately stopped himself. "No, I shouldn't be thinking about it too much right now. She is just a natural exhibitionist, that's all there is to it, no special meaning or anything behind it. Now I should just go to sleep." The boy laid down on the couch and tried to go to sleep. "Even monsters have hearts I suppose." He stated before closing his eyes.

Despite his earlier protests to not think about it, Academy City's rank one esper ended up thinking about his companion again that night.

Chapter 2 End

Well there you have it, chapter two is finally out! I apologize greatly for taking so long to update, but I have been swamped with work and with going to Fanime Con here in San Jose California during Memorial Day Weekend.

I want to thank everyone who takes the time to read this story, I hope you enjoy it! I feel like this chapter could have been written with much better flow, but I promise to step up my game for the next chapter (which is scheduled to release by next weekend to make up for the time I took to update!)

If you would all find time to shoot me a review if you can that would be awesome! Flames are accepted as well! Do not be shy, it's 2016 and I suck at writing! I just need as much input since this is the first story I am taking on, any words to help me improve would be totes appreciated!