Part 5
(November 10 – Oahu – Pearl Harbor's Third Marine Base – From the west gate surveillance camera)
While the same could not be said for an overseas garrison, no one was going to attempt a head on attack of a base in the country. As such, the first thing one had to learn as a guard was how to kill time…or so many people thought. In reality, the guards did have work to do.
This work did not involve harsh firefights with dangerous elements attacking the base. Instead it involved driving off citizens' groups keeping an eye on the usage of tax money and third-rate reporters who had no good material that week.
In the base, it was known as "crow extermination" and was put on the same level as cleaning the toilets.
(…With the airplane fuel bombing at the airport and the shooting at the shopping mall, I wish they would just give us the order to shoot those bastards up. I don't need an assault rifle for this crow extermination. A plunger would be enough.)
An African-American marine named Nike Canox tossed aside a gravure magazine and brought his feet from the table and down to the ground. He had heard something over the radio. It seemed the people who would help kill some time that day were on their way.
The assault rifle hanging from Nike's shoulder was unpopular with the troops, but no one dared mention it to the higher ups. He opened the thin door of the guardroom and stepped outside. He no longer had the benefit of the Japanese-made cold mist sprayer in the guardroom and the annoying sunlight stabbed at his brown skin.
"Stop! Stop right there! Who the hell are you people!?" Nike shouted in the direction of the row of people walking his way.
"I'm the president!! I'll cut your funding, cowboy! Hurry up and get out the ID reader!!" shouted back a solidly built middle-aged man with tears in his eyes.
When Nike looked closer, he recognized the man from his frequent news appearances. He was the legendary man who had supposedly tried to appear wearing only a speedo in a commercial for an ED remedy, but had been stopped by his monstrous female aide. He was the man who a women's association on a variety program had said had no character to his proposals. In response, he had said with a smile that he would propose a bill to expand the number of nudist beaches and had subsequently been knocked senseless by his female aide right there in the press conference room.
But who were the children behind him?
Nike was completely dumbfounded, so he simply held out the tablet. The man punched in his social security number and placed his palm on the screen. Nike had assumed he was just an impersonator, but his ID went through perfectly fine for some reason.
Nike pulled the tablet back and shook it lightly.
"…Is this thing broken?"
"What? Do you think that kind of system will 'just so happen' to have an error that 'just so happens' to let someone through just from getting a bit of dust or sand in it? If you do, send a complaint to its maker, Muscat Computers. In three hours, they'll sue your for defamation."
"E-eh? But…eh? Then..."
"I am President Roberto Katze. Surely you know that I disappeared from a press conference in Oahu two hours ago. It may not have been revealed to the public yet, but the news has to have been spreading through the military."
"O-oh…"
Nike had no idea what was going on and was unsure whether he should salute or not, but the president merely pressed on.
"The truth behind all this is that a terrorist plot is underway that involves abducting me. The people behind me are the civilians who saved me. However, the danger is not over yet. I'd like some help and protection, but we need to get inside here first."
"No, wait. Wait a second. What am I supposed to do? Oh, right. Contact command. Once the electronic processing is done, I can issue some guest IDs and then…"
"Do you really think we have time to wait? I thought I told you the danger wasn't over? They're approaching as we speak. Just getting inside the fence isn't good enough. We need to think about using the mortars and at the very least need to evacuate into reinforced concrete buildings."
"B-but…"
"Cowboy." The president stared Nike in the eye. "When Kennedy was assassinated, a few people besides the shooter had their names carved into history as villains. Even after all these years, the ones that allowed the mistakes in security are seen like that. Do you want to have the same happen to you, cowboy?"
"…Come in…"
It was partly due to the ID reader saying the president was who he said he was, but Nike Canox was mentally overpowered and let him pass.
When the civilians headed for the gate after Roberto Katze, Nike had enough sense to try to stop them, but…
"Those people could very well be targets because they saved me. Cowboy, are you going to throw out these heroes and let them die?"
Nike could not say anything in response.
He could not recall there being any manual for what to do if the president showed up unexpectedly. In a daze, Nike moved aside and let the four civilians into the marine base.
Part 6
(November 10 – Oahu – Pearl Harbor's Third Marine Base – From an auxiliary control camera)
"What just happened?" asked Kamijou for about the dozenth time as they passed through the west gate.
Roberto shrugged.
"Don't ask me. I just nervously did what she told me to do. I thought this base was supposed to have fallen to this Saronia person."
"Oh, it has," said Birdway with a nonchalant expression. "However, her invasion has not reached the lowest ends. Most likely, she only has direct control over the commander at the top."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because of what happened in the shopping mall," Birdway responded sounding bored. "According to the president, Saronia has control of at least the US Congress and is controlling people in other government and military organizations. We do not know how many people she can control at once, but there are around six hundred people in Congress. To hold a majority of those, she needs half that. If she is skilled enough to control that many people at once, don't you think the scene at that shopping mall should have been more of a disaster? For instance, she could have had all the tourists attack us like zombies with new ones added for each one we defeated."
"…Now that you mention it…"
"However, she was only controlling the four hostages," Birdway said as they continued walking. "Assuming the president is telling the truth, Saronia's spell must take time to prepare and must have a limit on the number of people controlled. We can assume she has her hands full keeping her grasp on the nation and therefore cannot spare too many people to fight. In that case, she would want to reduce the cost of controlling this base."
"There are a few barriers that would keep someone from having complete control of the country," said the president with a light sigh. "This Saronia person would need to spread her controlling tentacles across the entire nation to overcome all of those. I can see why she would be barely scraping by."
"So you're saying this person is being more economical by only controlling the commander at the top and using official orders to control those lower down?" asked Mikoto with a tone that said she still did not have a good grasp of the concept of magic.
Birdway nodded and said, "Also, we can assume Saronia's human controlling magic is somehow special. Normally magic can be used by anyone who knows how, but there are some exceptions. This is one of those."
"What are you basing that assumption on?" asked Accelerator.
"If anyone could use the magic, Saronia would just have to make someone she was controlling use the same magic. By repeating that, she could control any number of people in a geometric progression. However, that is not happening. Saronia is the only one using the spell and she clearly has limits on what she herself can do with it."
And Birdway was thinking that Saronia would only be controlling the commander of that American base due to those limitations.
Roberto tilted his head to the side.
"…Then I guess we still have a chance. They will have an order from their commander and an order from me. Technically, I hold a higher position, but I doubt normal soldiers have ever thought about a situation where they would have to choose. I'm sure not all of them will side with me, but they'll be confused all the same."
"I think I'll take this time to explain the papyrus's analysis of Saronia's spell." Birdway folded her arms. "As I thought, her spell has to do with the Russian forest fairy known as the Leshy. The Leshy rules over all of the forest animals and she is controlling people by having them correspond to those animals. I now know that the specific requirement for this uses trees."
"Trees?"
"It has to be a Russian conifer tree. It can be just a splinter or a leaf, but a target must touch a portion of one to be seen as a resident of the forest and therefore be under Saronia's control."
"…Did they have anything like that?" Kamijou asked as he thought back to the situation in the shopping mall.
Birdway smiled thinly and said, "As long as it is made of wood, it can be anything. Even paper or corkboard would work. Lately I've been hearing about these paper capacitors. If you slipped those into something, it wouldn't be hard to get someone to carry it around without them knowing."
"What happens if they let go of that spiritual item?"
"She loses control of course. However, Saronia will not let that happen. Once she has control, she will surely order them to not let go of it no matter what. In fact, she could just tell them to swallow it."
"Ueh…" Kamijou groaned.
"More importantly, girl, you said this Saronia is only directly controlling the commander, right?" cut in Roberto.
"Yes. What about it?"
"Then the biggest danger right now is…"
He trailed off as an off-road vehicle appeared near a distant building. In the back of the MP-driven vehicle sat a large well-built man who looked exactly as one would expect of someone in a high position. A military enthusiast might have been able to tell his precise rank from the details of his uniform.
He was the commander of the base.
"Mr. President."
When he saw the man looking down from the parked off-road vehicle, Kamijou felt his body stiffen. The nameplate on the man's chest said Bax Silver.
Birdway had said Saronia was lessening her burden by only directly controlling the commander at the top and indirectly controlling the rest through the command structure.
That meant it was possible the other soldiers would not follow an order to shoot the president. No one would want to be known as the man who killed the president.
However, Bax Silver was different.
He was being controlled by Saronia's spell, so there was a danger of him simply following an order to shoot the president without thinking of the consequences.
The presence of the automatic pistol hanging at his waist seemed especially heavy.
Kamijou swallowed audibly.
With his right hand, he could possibly remove Saronia's control of the commander, but a few meters was within the kill zone for a handgun.
As Kamijou tried to figure out what to do, the commander made his move.
"I just received word that you were here. I'm so glad you are okay! I will have the base do everything we can to protect you!!"
(…Huh?)
Kamijou's eyebrows moved up slightly and a similar thought seemed to be going through Mikoto's head. Kamijou started to think they were being invited into some kind of trap, but…
"She can't do it," Birdway whispered.
She stepped past the president and toward Bax with a sneer on her face.
"You could kill the president right now, but if you did, you would lose your indirect control over this base in the confusion it caused. That is why you cannot kill him. At least not now. You must wait for the Trigger to be taken from the base."
Bax Silver's body trembled slightly.
It looked more like it was based on someone else's feelings than on the commander's own conflict.
"The fact that she cannot use the commander as a disposable tool proves something else. I already gave the answer, but do you know what that is?"
"…The Trigger is still here?" muttered Roberto before clearing his throat and taking a more "official" tone of voice. "Commander, I would like some information regarding the storage of the Trigger. Where exactly is the Trigger right now?"
Bax's body trembled even more.
Someone was conflicted over whether to take action then or not.
Mikoto and Accelerator lowered their center of gravity slightly, but then…
"…Th-the Trigger is…"
The commander's lips began to move.
He continued to speak as an unnatural sweat appeared on his face.
"…on the runway. It has been authorized to be taken to the island of Hawaii on a transport plane…"
"Let's go," muttered Birdway. "Saronia herself is likely sheltered in that 'most welcoming place'. As Gremlin wishes to use the Trigger on Kilauea, it would be fastest to transport the user along with the device."
"But there are three transport planes? Which one is the Trigger on…?" asked Mikoto as she stared over at the runway.
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out.
Kamijou and the others frantically turned around and saw the base commander had drawn his handgun. However, the bullet had not hit anyone. The nearby MP grabbed him and held him down to the ground. Most likely, the MP had jumped at him before he had fired.
"Don't worry about him," said the president quietly. "We will take out the cause and bring this all to an end."
Part 7
(November 10 – Oahu – Pearl Harbor's Third Marine Base – Inside the cargo hold of a transport plane – From a maintenance control camera)
Kamijou ran toward one of the three transport planes. Accelerator and Birdway headed toward the other two.
Luckily, the transport planes had not yet taken off. It seemed the cargo had not been fully loaded yet. The cargo door on the back was sitting open. The door doubled as a slope for vehicles, so it hung down onto the asphalt runway.
Kamijou, Mikoto, and Roberto ran toward that slope.
"Why are you following me, Misaka!?"
"If I let you out of my sight now, I get the feeling you'll disappear again!! …Agh, I don't want to believe in unscientific things, but maybe I should give that to him now!"
"Mr. President, why aren't you taking refuge in the base!?"
"This is my country, boy."
There appeared to be only three transport planes and Accelerator and Birdway were likely headed for the other two.
"Hey!! What are you people doing!? And who are you!?" shouted an Indian American soldier using a military forklift to move a cube-shaped container.
"I'm the president!! If someone make me repeat that again, I'm going to take my Christmas break early to let my heart heal! Just quit what you're doing and come with me! I have a job for that government-issued item hanging at your waist! This plane is not to take off. I repeat, this plane is not to take off!!"
The forklift driver started panicking as thoughts raced through his head such as, "But that isn't an order from my direct commanding officer…but at the same time, isn't the president the commander-in-chief of the military? Also, I've never before gotten an order like this that goes straight over the heads of my superiors like a fly ball. What should I do? Should I ask my commanding officer?"
Kamijou and the others ignored him and charged into the cargo hold.
The inside was quite spacious. It looked like a large tourist bus could easily fit inside. Cube-shaped containers like the one the forklift had been carrying were scattered about inside.
Kamijou looked around and said, "Where is it? Where's the Trigger? Or is it still…?"
"Shouldn't we find this Saronia person first? If we capture the person behind all this, we can—!?"
Mikoto was cut off as the floor beneath their feet trembled greatly.
A sound like the buzzing of a bee amplified a few hundred times pounded at their ears. By the time Kamijou realized it was the sound of the four propellers starting to spin, the plane had already started accelerating.
And the back cargo door was still open.
Roberto Katze lost his balance and started sliding toward the sloped exit. The end of the cargo door struck the asphalt, sending orange sparks flying.
"Ah!!" shouted Mikoto as she stretched out her hand and grabbed Roberto's hand just as he was about to fall out.
"Girl, I truly thank you, but you might have only made things worse."
"What are you talking about? Just hurry up and—!!"
"If I had fallen out before we accelerated too much, I would have only suffered a few scratches. However, I'm sorry to say that I will be torn to shreds if I fall out now."
"Then let go of that attaché case and grab on with both hands!!"
"As that would directly impact national defense, I have to refuse. I really wish I could though!!"
Meanwhile, the cargo plane continued to accelerate.
Just as it was about to exceed 300 kph, the floor beneath them shook once more. The open cargo door lowered down, creating an even steeper slope.
The plane was taking off.
In that instant, the level of danger someone who fell out would face changed from "very bad" to "instant death".
Kamijou was well aware of that fact, but he could not lend a hand to Mikoto.
The reason for this was clear.
"Saronia…!!"
A girl slowly walked out from behind one of the containers. She was a Gremlin magician. She was the one with a method of controlling people based on the legends of a Russian fairy known as the Leshy.
Her mostly green clothes, knee-high leather boots, blonde hair, and white skin made her stand out vividly. She may have been lightly dressed for someone claiming to be the ruler of the residents of the forest, but the unrealistic aspect to it seemed to match the idea of the fairy known as a Leshy.
However, she truly did not fit in within the cargo plane filled with nonmetal materials.
She gave off a natural sense of danger like a protected animal such as an alligator or scorpion inside of a city.
Now that she had appeared, Kamijou could not help Mikoto.
Whatever magic she used, she would aim for his back if he focused on saving the president. He would either be simply killed or controlled like a zombie, and he could not allow either to happen.
Without turning around, Kamijou spoke to Mikoto who was still holding onto the president's hand.
"Can I leave the president to you!?"
"I'll manage somehow! Dammit…Did they just remove all the metal parts when they made the new version? There's almost nothing I can grab onto using magnetism…!!"
At the sound of an approaching footstep, Kamijou tightly clenched his right fist.
Saronia specialized in magic that controlled people, but she had no such people there. If Kamijou, Mikoto, and the president could avoid being controlled, there was a good possibility he could get through with his right fist.
But then she used her right hand to lightly snap her fingers.
Immediately afterwards, Kamijou's body was forcefully slammed against the right wall.
He had not simply stumbled over and hit the wall. His feet had completely left the ground. After his back struck the center of the wall like a bullet, Kamijou's breathing literally stopped for a few seconds.
"Gah…bah…!?"
For an instant, he thought Saronia had used some kind of magical attack.
But she had not.
Mikoto and the president had been thrown about, too. If Mikoto's leg had not gotten wrapped around the thick cylinder that opened and closed the cargo door, the two of them would have been thrown out into the sky.
"…I see… So you're controlling the pilot…!!"
"Did you know that even a large cargo plane like this can perform acrobatics?" Saronia snapped her fingers again. "To be fair, no one in their right mind would ever attempt it."
Kamijou had no idea what actions the cargo plane was taking, but he was thrown back and forth. Even when he knew it was coming, he could not just brace himself against it. The very direction of the gravity he felt was changing.
Saronia was keeping her balance by wrapping her arm around a thick wire stretching between the wall and the ceiling. It was likely used for connecting containers together. She brought her other hand to her back.
"What we in Gremlin have come up with to combat your right hand is exceedingly simple."
She pulled something out of her turtleneck. It was a product that could be found lined up even at supermarkets in a major gun country like America.
"We will kill you using normal, everyday methods that do not involve the supernatural at all."
"!!"
Kamijou had no power that gave him the ability to deflect or dodge a bullet.
That was why he instead swung his right foot up from his position on the ground where he had landed after striking the wall. He kicked up the lever holding one of the cube-shaped containers on the ground, unlocking it.
Immediately afterwards, a gunshot rang out.
The plane's acrobatics created a small world that ignored the gravity of the Earth. The container floated up and orange sparks flew as it acted as a shield for Kamijou.
However, the abnormal gravity was not constant.
For an instant, the container had helped Kamijou, but it then "fell" toward him. Still collapsed on the ground, Kamijou frantically rolled to the side. The mass of metal landed next to him and broke to pieces. The simply constructed joints must have broken.
Saronia once more aimed the handgun at him with her right hand.
However, Kamijou was not able to use the same method again. There was no lever nearby for him to hit and there was no guarantee that another container would protect him from Saronia's bullet even if he could release one.
However, she did not fire again.
A different, more powerful physical phenomenon pierced through the cargo plane.
Specifically, it was a current of one billion volts.
Hearing the crackling roar, Saronia frantically headed for cover behind a container but quickly realized a metal container was probably not the best shield against electricity. She grimaced.
With one leg wrapped around the cylinder, one hand grabbing the president's arm, and the other hand pointed toward Saronia, Mikoto smiled fearlessly despite the clearly difficult situation she was in.
"…I may not be able to do much against that strange right hand, but my powers make me almost invincible against 'normal, everyday methods'."
Saronia grinned right back at her. She was looking at the thick cylinder Mikoto was grabbing onto with her leg.
"(…Is she planning to close the cargo door, crushing Misaka in the process!?)"
Having guessed at the enemy's intent, Kamijou cried out.
"Don't worry about Saronia!! Just blow away every container in here!!"
"!?"
With a shocked expression, the magician could not decide whether to aim the gun at Kamijou or Mikoto.
Immediately afterwards, a number of lightning spears shot form Mikoto's bangs.
Tremendous explosive noises and flashes of light burst out. The nonmetal bolts used to lessen their weight melted and the simply constructed containers fell apart. Besides that direct damage, the electric current damaged the delicate equipment within.
Kamijou was not sure what exactly the Trigger was, but he doubted it would remain unscathed after receiving such a high voltage blast.
"Wha—!?" Saronia A. Irivika cried out as she saw the remains of the containers after they had burst, been flattened, crumbled, and been scorched black.
However, that was not because the Trigger had been destroyed before her eyes.
Part 8
(November 10 – Hawaii – Volcanoes National Park – From a bird watching camera)
Hamazura and the others who had split from Kamijou's group had landed on the Island of Hawaii and abandoned the high class yacht they had stolen. The volcano at the center of the issue, Kilauea, was one of Hawaii's greatest tourist attractions. The mountain itself and the nearby volcanic craters were all part of a national park.
The largest crater was at the summit, but dozens of smaller craters existed on the mountainside and near the base of the mountain. They could smell a sulfurous gas smell similar to at a hot spring.
Hamazura and the others were supposed to use stolen vehicles to get to Kilauea before Gremlin and to stop them if they tried to bring in the Trigger.
It seemed Kamijou and the others had a real chance of succeeding, so there was a possibility that Hamazura's group would not have to actually do anything.
However…
"What is that…?"
Hamazura slowly lay down on the edge of a large caldera that was over ten kilometers across.
Several men were there.
They were much too close to the crater for tourists who were simply looking around. The crater was not as large as Kilauea's famous Halemaumau Crater, but it still had a very dangerous-looking crack a few dozen meters long that glowed orange. And the men appeared to be setting up some kind of large device. It looked like a giant drum with four legs. The four legs were spread out like a cross and the men were affixing them with special stakes that were driven in using either electric power or compressed gas.
"…I have a bad feeling about this. It reminds me of Russia."
To make matters worse, that one device was not the only one.
A few dozen of the drum-like devices surrounded the large crater.
He had no real proof, but a single term naturally floated up in the back of Hamazura's mind.
"Is that…the Trigger?"
"Looks like it."
"But how? Why!? I thought it hadn't been brought to this island yet!"
"Misaka can only think of one possibility," said Misaka Worst as she lifted her index finger. "The Gremlin…magician, was it? Anyway, that dangerous element the others are after was not aware of the real plan. The Trigger was always going to be brought in via a different route, and that dangerous element did not know that. That is why the others were unable to find where the Trigger was stored by chasing her."
"This is bad. This is very, very bad," Hamazura groaned. "If that thing activates, Kilauea will erupt. This isn't just our problem. If the lava comes flowing out, 500,000 residents and tourists will become victims. And if this acts as a trigger that rapidly destroys America's relations with other countries…"
"The situation is unstable enough due to World War III. A lot of countries and regions are dissatisfied with the lack of financial support for the restoration work Academy City is leading. While they may not declare war on America, some politicians will likely get into arguments and start some kind of 'money-making war'."
"…So are we gonna do this or not?" asked Kuroyoru who was still upset. She may have received some kind of emotional wound from having them see her cry.
However, Hamazura shook his head and said, "Fighting them head on would be a bad idea. Apparently this Trigger applies stimuli to the magma by detonating various types of explosives in stages, but we have no idea what the specifics are. If it's a delicate process, we don't want to start a battle around it. Also, we don't know how powerful the enemy is. I doubt they'll want to get burned by the eruption they're causing, so there should be some time between when they leave and when they detonate the device. We have no choice but to remove the Trigger and neutralize it in that time."