Chapter 6: Five Three One

Accelerator was having a bad day. For a lot of people having what suspiciously felt like a date being interrupted by violence would be a bad day. For those who didn't see the violence as bad day worthy, then the whole seeing a man's head blow up to pieces in front of them would be the reason to call it a day bad. For the few who didn't see a mere head explosion as something to get bothered about, they would almost certainly find seeing someone they consider there charge covered in blood and brains a reason to call it a bad day...

However it wasn't the violence that got to Accelerator, it wasn't the fact Last Order had been dragged into it and it wasn't even that Kazari had seen the dark world he lived in either...

"Last Order... speak to me please..." He muttered softly as he could to the young clone in the Anti-skill office. She was being held by Kazari, (who was sitting in a chair) and she wasn't speaking. There was a distant lack of 'Misaka Misaka' and through she was mostly hiding her face in Kazari's shoulder, he did see her expression now and again...

"Maybe she needs a little time to get her thoughts in order Accel." Kazari said in a helpful tone. " She has just been through a pretty heavy going event."

Kazari was by and large a creature of the light. Through there was strength in her soul that let her swim through it, and a mercy in her heart that made her reach out and pull others to safer shores, she wasn't familiar with it and for all her compassion and surprisingly insightful comments, she didn't know Accelerator and Last Order well enough to realise what exactly was wrong...

Last Order had seen darkness, Last Order had seen death. Last Order wasn't in this state because she had seen a man die... Those shameful glances at him, gave Accelerator a glimpse of what was going in her head, and it was the implications of the why that gave Accelerator reason to consider today a bad day.

She was ashamed of him. She was ashamed of what Accelerator had done on that dark night, on what had led the man to hate so much, then he would pick up a gun and hold it against her head to hurt him.

Accelerator had once go toe to toe with angel, he would rather go through that a hundred times to escape this, but he couldn't escape this. To run away would be to go back to being that boy laying on the floor after being punched by that right hand. He had moved from there, he refused to go back to being there... but he didn't know what his next step was.

"She talk when she ready Accel." Kazari said as she looked up at him and in the eyes, unwavering. "Why don't you go talk to her sister first instead?"

It was the way she said it, Accelerator was sure, it was simple and innocent sounding sentence, but the undertone was there, the unspoken words were there... Why don't you go see to your other charge?... Uiharu Kazari was not the kind of girl who would shout if she didn't need to. And unlike Accelerator she could be strong without making a big noise. Unlike Accelerator she had seen the next step.

"Good idea." He simply replied, before looking down at Last Order. "Make sure no one tries to mess with her while I'm out of sight."

Kazari nodded.

"She be safe with me." She replied. "Go see to Worse."

Accelerator was sincerely thankful Kazari was there.

Mikoto walked towards the Anti-Skill office with considerable trepidation. Kuroko was keeping close (Mikoto kept having to fight the desire to place her hand in Kuroko's) and her presence was making this hard walk easier. Saten was also giving her moral support, but while Kuroko was remaining strong and silent, Saten was chatting away, filling the silence.

"So they thinks this little girl a clone of you?" Saten asked. "I say that the most insane thing I've heard, but after all the business with Febrie...I can't say for sure that it's impossible."

Mikoto though of that young girl, it had been a complicated and hard, but she saved her and her sister Jane from being used as living weapons. Now they were now living a happier life with Nunotaba. But what of this Misaka Misaka Sister? She was far too small to be living by herself, and being a illegal clone it wasn't like she would be taken in via the normal channels... so how was she getting along? Were the other Sisters looking after her or was there some mysterious third party?

"Anyway, we stand by you through this and see that little girl to happier days regardless!" Saten said enthusiastically. "And if you have unexpectedly become a teenage mother, we're still your friends!"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, despite the dread of what was coming, Mikoto still felt a great blush overcome her.

"Teen.. teenage mother!" She stuttered out in embarrassment. "Wouldn't I more be her big sister if she's my clone?!"

Saten chuckled.

"Look, if she born out of your DNA, she your baby, not your mums. " Saten explained. "And if she's a little kid, she needs at least one responsible parent figure in her life, someone to look to for moral guidance and someone she can turn too when things go wrong, which from the sounds of things, they have."

The idea hit her like a tone of bricks. This Misaka Misaka Sister needed a mother, this Misaka Misaka Sister needed someone to pull her out of this dark day... she needed Mikoto to take on that role.

Mikoto walked forwards with a new determination now clearly visibly in her step.

Containing a Level 4 Electromaster wasn't a simple thing. Anti-Skill had dealt with all sorts of Level 4s before, and Electromasters were a fairly common subtype of Esper. As result they had learned that anything made out of metal was unwise, as a result they learned using electronics was a really bad idea.

WORSE's cell was best described as a stone box with a see through plastic door. It was locked with some very low tech levers and old styled key locks... with a distant lack of metal anywhere.

While it was more apparently with Level 5s like Accelerator, a major sign of a powerful Esper was creativity with there powers. Level 1s normally had really specific powers (I can make my pet cat come to me as long as its within 10 miles of my location) while a Level 3 would have a more general power, with clear limits (I can send massagers to anyone within 10 miles). However a Level 4 would start using there power far more creatively, start finding ways to overcome its limits (I can send messages to anyone with 10 miles.. including there worse nightmares. I can also make people see things that aren't there in fights) and this creativity had in the early days of the first Level 4s had given Anti-Skill all sorts of headaches. It didn't help that Level 4s were more likely to get involved in crime as the power went to there heads either.

So WORSE was well locked up. Even with all the knowledge she had in her head from Testament, Accelerator knew she wouldn't be able to get free on her own power.

"So." Accelerator said as he awkwardly sat down and put his cane on the floor. "You're a criminal."

It was a statement of fact, but there was dark if playful look in WORSE's eyes.

"So when you going to burst me out Mr Honour Student?" WORSE said with glee. "This Misaka has checked out this cell from top to bottom already, even a Level 5 Electromaster would struggle, but it be a piece of cake for a Vectormaster like you!"

Accelerator let the moment drag.

"Then what?" He asked bluntly.

"We grab the Controller and that hot middle scholar you've picked up and run away to Canada!"

"Wait a minute.. you think Kazari is hot?" Accelerator asked. "You telling me your a lesbian now?"

WORSE chuckled at that.

"This Misaka is a depraved bi-sexual who seeks to corrupt the innocent!" WORSE said with great relish. "But all the Misaka's are unfussy in that area, and I mean -all!-"

Accelerator sighed.

"You don't have to be that kind of person, you don't have to be Worse." Accelerator said firmly. "They might have told you that your that person, but they told your sisters that they were born to die too..."

Course he didn't say the MISAKA Network, he didn't say to die to me. Accelerator was very aware he was being watched by nervous Anti-Skill officers.

"I can feel the darkness..." WORSE said in a uncharacteristic moe like tone.

"I know you can and I know what darkness feels like." Accelerator said quietly. "I know what Last Orders smile look like too. You don't have to be Worse, you can be better."

"But who would this Misaka be?" She asked in a pained voice. Accelerator bit his lip, sometimes it was easier to be a tool with purpose, even a dark tool, then to find your own purpose.

"She would be brave and she would make me proud." Accelerator said as he looked at the clone in the eyes. WORSE actually blushed slightly. "And we're going to get through this. You may have killed a man, but he was wielding a weapon with murderous intent, I think that give us at least some wiggle room in court don't you think?"

She stared at him silently for a while

"Is this because of her, this Misaka wonders?" WORSE said as she sat on her side of the plastic. "Are you doing things differently because she's paying attention?"

Accelerator slowly stood up.

"A true hero punched a monster. " He explained. "A brave little girl showed a lost boy mercy, and he tried to find his way. Maybe he's found one, but he certainly made a few mistakes looking for it and he certainly knows that if you want to find happiness in the world, you must be willing to embrace change."

Accelerator carefully stood up and left WORSE to think about her future. Now he had to save her from that cell without using violence.

Kuroko saw Uiharu in the busy office, holding a small girl.

"Shirai, Misaka and Saten, what are you doing here?!" Uiharu shouted as she saw the group coming in, standing with the small girl in her arms. As she walked towards them, that small girl turned to look at them.

It was uncanny. Kuroko knew her Onee-sama very well. She knew her features, her expressions, her little subtle tells. She also had spent a lot of time with the Sisters and learned to read them to a degree too. This girl was a Misaka, there no doubt about that. Same nose, same forehead, heck even her hair grew in the same paten. But her expression, her features suggested a very different soul from her Onee-sama, there was a lack of her restraint, a open honesty about how the girl felt written all over her face... and the Sisters didn't normally show there feelings very well, but this one had zero difficulty.

There was only one person this could be, a person she only heard about from the other Sisters and that was the 'Controller', the Queen Bee of the MISAKA Network, who because of her role was considerably more in tune with the hive mind, which likely explained quiet neatly why she seemed so much more human. Her mind was considerably less 'spread out' or as Imouto had once explained it, she like avatar in a first person shooter, instead of a third person adventure game (She played way too many games with Touma...).

She also had blood in her hair.

"We were planning to give you a surprise visit at the restaurant" Her Onee-sama replied to Uihara before turning her attention to the Controller as she ran over. "Are you ok? What happened? Is there anything I can do?"

"I think she's in shock Misaka." Uihara explained. "There was this man with a gun that seemed to know Accel from somewhere dark and he was treating Last Order like she was some kind of evil killing machine and holding her hostage... then he basically told Accel to kill himself and I stopped him..."

"Then Worse murdered him, says Misaka in a guilty tone, as Misaka holds the kind girl tightly."

She had spoke in tone full of guilt and shame.

"How can the Misaka's look Touma in the eyes now, Misaka shouts out in shame as Misaka opens her heart! How can we hold him close, knowing the hands of the Misaka's are stained in blood!"

She then started to cry her eyes out

"I'm here!" Her Onee-sama shouted out as she ran over and took the Controller/Last Order in her arms. "I take responsibility for everything, we will make everything ok and Touma will still love you I'm sure, he's got a big heart and.."

"No you won't." Said a male voice from behind Kuroko. She turned too look at the speaker.

He was a bit older than the girls, she would guess he was a similar age to Touma. His hair was a stark white and his eyes actually had red irises. Surprisingly for a high school student, he seemed to need a cane to walk, and was wearing some high tech choker on his neck.

"Because all the crap that's gone of is my fault, Accelerator, Academy Cities Number 1 Level 5." He explained. "I enslaved the MISAKA Network by hacking into there signal after I got involved in accident. Totally brainwashed them to be my servants as well as using them to make up for my last calculation ability."

"You did -what-?" Her Onee-sama said in angry and aggressive tone as she turned to him.

"So what Worse did was my fault, since I was calling the shots." Accelerator explained. "The Original here was secretly cloned without her consent by some underground types who I slaughtered. Last Order would likely be best off with the Original here, who clearly loves her for real. Also if you take my choker away, I can no longer interact with the MISAKA Network and control them, so why don't you Anti-Skill types do exactly that?"

Last Order screamed it was all lies and her Onee-sama screamed abuse at Accelerator for using the Sisters as tools. But as the Anti-Skill offices removed his choker and rendered him a helpless prisoner a single though passed through Kuroko's mind..

Your trying to protect them, aren't you?