Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume4 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 2===

At the same time and same place, short bursts of gunfire rang out.

In the quiet of the deserted city, only Long Beach rumbled louder than a fireworks show. An intense firefight had broken out between machines that surpassed the #3 and #4 and clone girls who had failed to reach that point.

But so what?

Firing a powerful railgun was not enough to win anything and everything. Combining railguns into a Gatling gun did not guarantee victory over espers. The ones who had fought on the front lines and the ones who had remained on standby around the world had their brains electromagnetically linked. The nearly 10 thousand Sisters formed a single massive parallel processing network known as the Misaka Network. Their overwhelming processing power could calculate out the answer.

They dodged with the smallest of margins.

They sniped joints and sensors like threading a needle with their bullets.

And during it all…

“What’s wrong? Taking a break already? asks Misaka #19559.”

A girl spoke to an identical girl seated with her back against a sliced cruiser.

The seated girl fell silent for a bit with her assault rifle still between her head and shoulder.

And then…

“Sorry,” she said. “Misaka was listening, honestly confesses Misaka #10089 while looking up into the night sky.”

The other girl understood.

That boy was not linked to them by the invisible network, but he still trusted they had his back. It was simple enough to say, but could anything be so valuable?

So the girls reflected on the words, relished them, accepted them, and whispered quietly to themselves.

“Took you long enough, baby.”

Their break was over.

The girls stood back up, readied their guns, and directly faced a headwind of death and destruction. Muzzle flashes blossomed in the cold night. The identical girls tossed each other spare magazines, bought each other time to reload, and otherwise supported each other as they destroyed their targets.

“Misaka cares deeply about someone.”

They marched across the wreckage of the obliterated yachts and cruisers.

One of them fired a finishing blow on the mantis head lying at her feet.

“And if this will help him and it will save the people of Los Angeles…”

Several clones formed a thick shield to protect another who leaned forward to aim an anti-materiel rifle.

They supplied devastating attacks and marched onward while making an announcement to the world.

“Then a threat this minor is not even worth fearing!! declares Misaka.”

That was when they heard some deep mechanical noises.

If anything, it reminded them of a precision computer operating.

A nearby cruiser shattered like glass.

If the identical girls had not immediately coordinated via the Misaka Network and gotten own on the ground as a group, they would have been shredded and bloodied by the many shards.

And they recognized this storm of blunt weapons.

It was the result of vector control.

“No, this does not appear to be vector control itself, calmly analyzes Misaka #16360.”

Several solid sounds of impact followed. After blowing away the cruiser it was using as cover, the new foe had nowhere to hide.

It looked like a crab monster larger than a van.

[[Image:GT_Index_v04_341.jpg|thumb]]

The mechanical weapon held out shields that nearly covered its silhouette from the front. And those shields were its true weapon. A CD-like rainbow sheen moved slimily along its surface because it was covered with something like sea anemones too small to see.

Five Over OS – Model Case: Accelerator.

“So Misaka’s final obstacle is named after ''you''? It would seem fate has a sense of humor, comments Misaka #19559. …But ''the real one'' would never get in his way.”

“You cannot call it fate when people were involved in setting it up, calmly retorts out Misaka #10089 while testing her reaction speed.”

The Five Overs were weapons designed to reproduce a Level 5s power through pure technology and match or exceed the original’s destructive power. The #3’s was the most obvious example there. Equip a machine with an even more powerful railgun and you had yourself a Five Over.

But those with the OS designation, which stood for Outsider, were different.

“Those weapons use a method other than the Level 5’s to produce a similar effect.”

“Does it use over a billion group-controlled cylinders thinner than hairs, or does it use a distributing electrocontractile gel? How exactly it ''gives the appearance'' of vector control should be the key to defeating it.”

“Either way, this is a product of compromise. It only exists because they could not find a way to reproduce the real power. But even if it is a failure, Misaka will not go easy on it. As a fellow failure, she knows just how painful it is to have someone condescendingly hold back, decides Misaka #16360.”

The girls all aimed their weapons.

If this machine did not ''actually'' control vectors, they had a chance. If it could only defend itself in the direction of those shields, then it felt nowhere near as intimidating as the #1.

“You are not the real one, so Misaka does not fear you. You are no reason to abandon someone who trusts us to have his back, says Misaka #10089 while she declares war by raising a choice finger. Fuck you.”



An online exchange of criticism began in a pacifist country of faraway Scandinavia. They called the girls savages for using guns and asked if they thought traveling to a foreign country and shooting up the place was their idea of a relaxing hike.

But then someone made a certain post.

It was more than enough to silence those armchair idealists.

“I bet you’re only trashing them cause you’re jealous. They’re out there looking like heroes while you’re throwing stones while hiding behind your anonymity. They look a lot more ''human'' if you ask me.”



In a fancy French hotel, a bunch of young people carrying homemade signs flooded into a press conference where some prideful academics were preparing to officially denounce the use of human cloning technology.

The scene descended into chaos, but the young people were clearly enjoying themselves as they shouted in front of the cameras.

“How can you talk about what’s ‘humane’ when you’re demanding the execution of 10 thousand girls like you’re just stamping some paperwork!? When those girls heard about the crisis in LA, they chose to fight for their fellow human beings, but you want to have them lined up against the wall and shot!?”

“Do you think you can get away with anything since none of it’s happening here!? You people are advocating mass murder just to make a name for yourselves, so I say you’re the real disgraces to humanity. We need to set an example for those clones!!”

“Yes, rules are necessary, but those rules should be punishing the people who made them, not the girls themselves. Welcome to the world, girls. Allow us to introduce you to this wonderful society of ours.”



In an American home, someone was clanking around in the garage.

“What’s going on, mom? Why are you pulling out the shotgun at this hour?”

“Oh, my fairy, haven’t you seen the online video? I don’t care if they’re clones or what – that’s a bunch of young girls out there fighting. I can’t bear to sit idly by and watch a live video of some teenagers getting gunned down when they still have such promising futures ahead of them! That’s not the American way!!”

“But LA is 300km away?”

“300 is nothing. What do you think my Harley is for? Roar down the highway on that huge-ass bike and I’ll be there in no time! I don’t know what help I’ll be, but I’ll find something to do or my name isn’t Monoetta Spring! It’s time to charge headlong into someone else’s business in the name of justice! Cause ''that’s'' the American way!!”

“Look, if you’re if you’re going to go out and smash up dad’s bike, why not go looking for him instead? No, forget dad – I want a MilliPhone! There are apps I can’t get for my Alkaloid.”



In Japan, someone used the internet to distribute instructions for a 3D mask anyone could make with some cardboard and a printer, so Shibuya and Roppongi were flooded with boys and girls wearing the same face.



In South America, a surprise club event was held where SF authors and movie directors drank beers and cheered for human equality.



In the Vatican, the Catholic Pope solemnly stated that no sin was committed in the clones’ creation since no embryos were destroyed in the process.



In China, a social media post went viral for saying their country had 1.3 billion people already, so what’s 10 thousand more?



And.



Two girls held a phone on its side and pressed their cheeks together to watch the footage.

They were Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki.

“Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. How am I ever going to explain this to Kuroko!?”

“Count yourself lucky. Kouzaku-san might actually kill me over this.”

Mikoto’s phone would not stop ringing. She was receiving a flood of messages from her parents and friends. She had never seen a number that big on the unread messages icon. They all had to be wondering what was happening.

But that aside…

No one had ordered them to do this. Those girls had chosen for themselves to take up weapons to protect some people in need. The Ace and Queen of Tokiwadai’s eyes gently narrowed as they watched it.

The two Level 5s spoke softly while watching those girls take their first steps into a larger world.

They whispered like they were dazzled by the beauty of it all.

“You’re looking pretty cool out there.”