Academy City has a really dark underbelly to it. You don't have to poke very hard to find it, that sucker will bubble up out of nowhere and make itself readily known given the first opportunity. Among the first major hints that we, safe(ish) in our own reality, have to behold the full depths of it is with the plan to make Accelerator become a Level 6 Esper.
What a fucked up plan that is. I mean, Jesus Christ. I don't think anyone here would object to the idea that we read and write some pretty messed up things, but this? This actual plan that canonically exists within the universe of To Aru? It's monstrous. By an scale, by any measure, by any ethical standard worth planting your flag to. I don't care about your religion, politics, personal beliefs, if you don't have an automatic revulsion upon hearing the specifics of what they're planning to do, you're probably not even human anymore.
Daisuke was certainly appalled. Right now, he was sitting in his room having successfully brainwashed the entire Misaka Network all at once, hence giving himself access to the single most potent harem in history. Literally hundreds of thousands strong. Granted, the vast (and I do mean vast) majority of them were all clones of the same girl, but even so...
His first thought was to reach out to Touma for help. Tell him that he'd encountered the Sisters, got them to tell him about what was going on, but apparently -
"We have already encountered Touma, Misaka said while gyrating seductively."
That was a weird verbal tick they had, wasn't it? So Touma was already aware of it? Daisuke tapped his feet. He could use his contacts (by which he of course meant sex pets) within Judgement to investigate further, but this was already a matter approved by the city itself. Tsk! What he really needed to do was find the scientists responsible for this mess and mindscrew them into oblivion!
There was another possibility. He'd used his cock before to give Kuroko a buff, right? A sort of... 'suddenly you're a level 5' sort of buff. What if he did the same for the Misakas?
"According to our analysis, even the regular Misaka Mikoto would struggle against Accelerator, Misaka licked her lips seductively."
That's right. Based on what they'd said, he could automatically redirect attacks. Vector manipulation! The mental calculations he'd have to do to control that! Of course, his cock was an attack that didn't really use vectors as such, but -
But if this guy was the number one Esper in Academy City, could he really risk just... Marching up to him and dropping his trousers? As for buffing the Misaka network, if he did that then he'd be tracked down pretty sharpish. It's not the sort of thing you can just ignore during a highly important experiment like this!
He had enough attention on him as it was. He should try to enjoy his harem... while they were being picked off one by one by one by a crazy strong Esper.
Fuck.
"Where is Touma right now?" Daisuke asked, grabbing his coat and making sure to... adjust everything.
"He is pursuing a Sister alongside the original Misaka and two female associates of his, Misaka said, pouting in disappointment that the cock was put away."
Right. Is that so? About time for him to hit the streets!
=====
Everyone knows about Imagine Breaker. Or at least it felt like it at this point. What people did not know about Touma was the fact that his real superpower was something a bit more... potent than one might expect.
Did you know that he has excellent combat instincts? It's true. Imagine Breaker allows him to hard counter mages and Espers, but it's not enough by itself. He can keenly sense danger and react to it appropriately. Especially when it's something supernaturally based. Put him in a fistfight against a boxer, or a shooting match with a trained sniper, and he's basically done. They know how to fight that battlefield, he does not.
But by that same token, he knows how to engage in supernatural combat. If you asked him to explain it to anyone, teach them the tricks, he couldn't do it to save himself. Or, more likely, save someone else. Yet the instincts were there, waiting to come out, and right now those instincts were screaming at him like never before.
There is something really dangerous in this alley. Really, really dangerous - and you're not ready.
Which was ridiculous. Really, it was a daft idea. I mean, he had a Level 5 Esper on his team, as well as someone with an eidetic memory, who knows probably more about magic than literally anyone else on Earth. Hell, grab ten random mages, and she still knows more than their sum total. Also Aisa is here. Her talent was very particular - but if the enemy was a vampire they'd be super dead, and -
He turned the corner just in time to hear a rifle shot. The bullet sailed through the air, but not anywhere near him. It struck at a peculiar looking boy with silver hair and the palest skin Touma could remember seeing. And then the bullet returned to where it came from.
The boy was looking up at a wall, where Misaka was clinging to it by electricity. The two of them were looking at one another, and... It felt like Misaka was scared for some reason. He'd never seen her like this before.
"Well, well!" the boy said. "The original showed up? That's unexpected."
He stepped forward and reached out a hand for the wall. Misaka, sensing danger as surely as Touma did, leaped away, pulling up a bin lid and using it to levitate in mid-air over him. As for the wall itself - a brick flew out right towards Misaka, without apparent rhyme or reason.
Misaka zapped it easily enough, but how the hell did the boy do that?
"You there!" the boy said, half turning his head to look at Touma. "Clear off. This is none of your business. Just two Level 5's testing out what each other can do."
"You're a Level 5...?" Misaka asked.
"The Level 5!" the boy replied. "You've not heard of me? Accelerator. I'd say that I'm pleased to meet you, but - I'm not exactly a social person. Comes from people challenging you to fights all the time."
He then took a step, and a pebble shot out right next to Touma's head faster than a bullet. On reflex, he caught it with his right hand, which stopped it dead in its tracks. As expected - that was his Esper power at work. Accelerator...?
"That was your second warning," Accelerator said. "Take your girls and clear out. You too, original Misaka. If you want to fight #1 sometime, right now's not the best for me. So if you would, kindly, fuck right off."
Touma looked past the guy, and saw that copy of Misaka cowering in the shadows, up in the awnings of a rooftop, cradling a sniper rifle to herself.
This guy... this guy is the ranked 1 Level 5 Esper? Touma felt his blood pressure starting to rise.
"Touma, this guy's scary," Index said, tugging at his sleeve.
"Yeah, he is," Touma said. "But something about this guy is annoying me. Why did you call her 'original Misaka'?"
Accelerator smiled at him. Normally when someone smiles, it's an uplifting thing. The sound of laughter makes us want to laugh. The sight of a smile makes us want to smile. But not if the smile is something like this. It wasn't human. It was cruel, vicious. Not quite evil, but it certainly wasn't anything near this side of reassuring.
"You're still poking your nose in where it doesn't fucking belong?" Accelerator asked. The wind picked up within the alleyway. "Someone needs to be taught a lesson!"
======
"What do you mean he's fighting Accelerator already?!" Daisuke yelled while rushing through the streets, a Sister running right next to him with all the passion of a blank wall.
"Misaka means that he has encountered Accelerator and has already upset him, Misaka said."
Shit, shit, shit! He didn't know what he was getting into, here! Touma could beat that guy, but he had to have a solid idea of what he could do first, otherwise all that's going to happen is he's going to get his ass kicked while finding out!
They were still quite a distance away, by the time they got there the fight would be over! Shit! What should he do at a time like this! His only hope to save the Sisters - He had to act quickly, whatever he did!
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