Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 4===

Their saturation attack began.

A pair of personal watercraft with sleek, futuristic designs bounced over the choppy waves in the muddy water and cut across Academy City District 14. Mugino and Takitsubo had met with Frenda and Kinuhata and now they rode alongside each other.

The journey wasn’t easy thanks to the typhoon.

“Wow! In the end, I can barely keep in control!”

“Don’t just focus on the current, Frenda! Focus on the wind too! If that powerful crosswind hits you, you’ll capsize!”

The wind had torn the blades off of a wind turbine and they flew spinning toward Item. Just as Frenda instinctually ducked down, the water nearby burst upwards in a splash of muddy water more than 10m tall. If that had splashed up directly below them, they would have capsized for sure. The rainwater infrastructure must have been overtaxed and a manhole cover had shot off from the pressure, but with the streets flooded, it was impossible to tell where the danger was.

The pair in the back seats weren’t having much more fun.

“Takitsubo-san! With all this rain, you need to hold on tight or you’ll super slip off!!”

“No using Offense Armor, Kinuhata. You would break Frenda’s hips and tear her in half.”

Meanwhile, a single thin trail of smoke shot out ahead of them overhead.

That was a jamming missile that would emit jamming signals to neutralize the enemy radar. It wasn’t clear how effective that would be and it would be shot down eventually. Once they recovered from their confusion, the lab would realize they only had to launch an anti-radar missile that would automatically fly right toward the source of the jamming. Still, it would be worth it if it confused the lab’s interception control system and made them doubt their own equipment’s specs.

Then a gray group passed by above the two personal watercraft.

That was the multiple rocket launcher meteor shower launched on a timer and aimed at a fixed target. The 12 large rockets came apart midflight, releasing the explosives packed inside like fish eggs. There were more than 8000 of the explosives shaped like bowling pins. Their unbalanced center of gravity would give them a stable flight while they rained accurately down in a tightly-packed pattern across the area.

“Good, good, good! We’ll be fine as long as they aren’t shot down before they release the bomblets. In the end, I was a little worried about the typhoon, but their course corrections are working just fine. I don’t think the crosswinds are going to blow them into any student dorms or anything!!”

After several bright flashes of light, orange explosions overlapped overhead. The lab had started making full use of their Repurposed SDI, including the relay mirror laser weapon. But the 8000 bomblets couldn’t all be shot down right away.

The system had an accuracy rate of 99.99%, so more than 10 thousand targets would overload its capacity and targets would start to get through. However, Item’s ambush plan wouldn’t work if they really bombed the lab into dust. The 8000 was about right to keep the enemy busy for the time being.

Takitsubo looked expressionlessly up into the sky while holding onto Mugino’s back.

“Wow.”

“Mugino, we need to get in there before the fireworks show is over!! In the end, we’ll be sliced apart by that glass laser if we don’t!!”

The roaring of the wind was changing from moment to moment like it was alive, but fighting it wasn’t going to speed up their progress. Slicing through the winds with Mugino’s Meltdowner would only have a minimal effect. They had to use building walls, large signs, truck trailers, and anything else that would shield them from the wind as they kept their personal watercraft moving.

“Whoa,” cried Takitsubo without thinking.

A Brilliant Pebble shaped like a weather satellite or transistor had fallen nearby, but it had to be one that failed to shoot down part of the rocket rain. Still, it was packed full of rocket fuel and an oxidant. The two personal watercraft skillfully gave the makeshift mine a wide berth and used the hood and windshield of cars parked on the curb as ramps to jump high into the air. An instantaneous tailwind caught their backs at just the right moment.

“Also, Mugino, lend me your anti-recording device,” said Takitsubo. “The one that also disguises your location and number.”

“?”

“I’m picking up signals to the south-southwest and the northeast. Look, there are students stranded on the roofs. I’m going to report them to the fire department with my phone, so I need that accessory to boost my defenses.”

“So what if they’re stranded? It’s not like Frenda’s missiles are going to hit them.”

“But if they’re still there, they must have left their phones downstairs, so the floodwaters will have damaged them. They might go entirely unnoticed up there if we don’t tell the fire department.”

“Maybe, but why should we bother? It’s not like they’re drowning. If they’re on the roof, they aren’t going to die right away. All you’ll do is leave an unnecessary record that could come back to bite us.”

With a metallic click, Takitsubo Rikou pressed a handgun into Mugino Shizuri’s back.

She was as expressionless as always.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I picked it up in the Plinius yesterday. I think it was Kinuhata’s or Frenda’s.”

Takitsubo was seated right against Mugino’s back, so none of this was visible from the other watercraft bouncing along the muddy water.

Takitsubo whispered right into Mugino’s ear.

“No one can defeat your Meltdowner, but you have no defense against an ordinary bullet from point-blank range. Because there’s no room for you to create a Meltdowner shield. …I am your supporter, so I know your weaknesses. Better than anyone.”

“…”

Some dangerous electrification crackled from Mugino’s back as it leaped between drops of water, but Takitsubo still didn’t show any emotion on her face.

“Your Meltdowner can defeat most any enemy in one shot. I won’t deny that.”

With the watercraft shaking so much, the track suit girl pressed the handgun into that dangerous back all the harder.

“But I will not miss. And if ''all'' you want to do is destroy a human body, you don’t need very much destructive force. You get what I mean, don’t you? The key to victory is a contextual thing.”

“Why are you so intent on saving those people? …You even used Body Crystal to search them out. What do you gain from this that’s worth shortening your lifespan?”

“Nothing really. Like I said, I am only your supporter. My job is to do the things you can’t. So this isn’t a betrayal. ''Deep down, you want to do this too, don’t you? You don’t want to abandon those people in need, even if it is meaningless and doesn’t benefit us in the slightest''. Because those people have nothing to do with our fight against Honey Queen.”

Mugino didn’t bother turning around as she clicked her tongue and raised her middle finger.

But she didn’t self-destructively move her arm behind her back and launch a Meltdowner blast backwards, which Takitsubo took as permission. Takitsubo held tightly to her teammate’s back again while she attached the borrowed device to her phone’s bottom port and called someone.

They were approaching the tall wall.

They weren’t even close to the main gate, but…

“In the end, I’ll go in first. Kinuhata, I need you on standby!!”

“Super yeah, yeah.”

Kinuhata removed her arms from around Frenda and instead placed her hands on Frenda’s shoulders. Then she moved out in front of Frenda like a game of leapfrog.

Kinuhata placed her butt on the vehicle’s front hood, activated Offense Armor, and kicked the thick wall with both feet the instant they collided with it.

They broke through.

The two watercraft passed through the large hole, entering the lab’s grounds.

The fireworks show began to lose steam. They had filled the sky with so many explosives, but it looked like the defense system really was going to shoot them all down.

If they didn’t make it in time, it was all over.

Once all the decoy rockets were used up, the defense system could focus on Item instead. Then the lasers, linear guns, and ramming satellites of the Repurposed SDI defense network would wear them down and kill them.

Item approached the futuristic building that resembled an airport terminal. They didn’t expect the sturdy front door to open if they rang the bell, but…

“Mugino, I recommend aiming a bit left of the front door,” said Takitsubo.

“You got it!!”

With a deafening sizzling sound, a 2m hole was melted in a thick bulletproof glass window. Mugino Shizuri had created a new entrance for them.

Once inside, the watercraft skidded along the polished floor before coming to a stop.

The intellectual scientists in lab coats were shocked at first, but they paled and put their hands in the air as soon as they saw Mugino Shizuri.

“Yikes! I-isn’t that Lady Mugino!?”

“Are you kidding me? If we’d known it was her, we wouldn’t have even bothered resisting… There’s no way we can beat a monster like her!!”

Mugino chuckled and brushed her wet hair back with a hand, but the rest of Item had small triangles for mouths.

So this was Mugino’s lab.

She appeared to have the staff well trained.

“I only want one thing: give me full authority over the lab’s security right this instant. If we could get in, so could someone else. Does the name Ainame Caroline ring any bells? You there, the one looking awkwardly away, you didn’t let a 10-year-old trick you into an online romance, did you? But she’s through stealing bits and pieces through those marriage scams. At this rate, Honey Queen is going to try to take over this lab in person! So hurry!!”