Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item2 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 6===

Ainame Caroline and Tachiuo Mary of Honey Queen would be arriving soon. And yet…

“Where are they?”

While this was a lab, not all of it was dangerous experiment rooms with warning signs and icons on the doors. Item was currently speaking in the staff recreation room.

Takitsubo Rikou expressionlessly asked that question while drying her hair and track suit with a towel.

Mugino Shizuri didn’t even bother hiding her irritation as she repeated the question herself.

“Where are Ainame Caroline and Tachiuo Mary? Where are Honey Queen?”

“Maybe they’re big fans of Miyamoto Musashi. Besides, they never super said when they would be showing up. And even if they know we’re here, they’re still going to attack in case we destroy the data they need.”

“Hey, hey, Mugino,” said soaking-wet Frenda, ignoring how her striped bra showed through her top. “What do they research here? You only called them ‘Meltdowner projects’, but that doesn’t tell us anything. This big building couldn’t have been cheap, but it’s not like Honey Queen needs everything in it. If we knew what Former Head Researcher Ainame Caroline’s top priority target is, defending would be a lot easier.”

Frenda’s idea of “defense” here was to set up a ton of bombs and traps in the areas they knew their enemy would be going.

“And what’s your real reason?”

“In the end, I want to know all your secrets☆”

At a glance from Mugino, the female researcher checking on the espresso machine by the wall made a quick 180 and left the room. It was written plain on Mugino’s face she didn’t want anyone getting close.

She probably saw this as her territory. 

“You can look into it if you want,” she said casually, squeezing a dried towel between her hands to wipe the moisture from her hair.

“So even you super don’t know what they do here?”

“You were produced by the Dark May Project, but do you know ''what that project was ultimately designed to accomplish''? It’s the same here. What my power does is entirely separate from what they’re trying to accomplish by researching it.”

With that, it was time to get moving.

“Huh? I didn’t expect to see the security robots super patrolling a secret lab like this.”

“These probably belong to the lab, not Anti-Skill, so they won’t automatically alert the authorities if something happens. And we count as Mugino’s visitors, so I don’t think we need to worry,” expressionlessly explained Takitsubo before looking to the side. “Mugino, is it just me or does that robot have a rocket launcher? And a shotgun too.”

“You field this one, Frenda.”

“In the end, I bet they’re adapted from a killer satellite. America officially claimed they never made any killer satellites – satellites designed to destroy other satellites – but they work the same as the SDI anti-missile satellites.”

They checked the computers in a few of the rooms, but they weren’t just going to find secret data on Meltdowner just sitting out, either in document or data form. They would need to give the researchers a major talking to if they had.

But that wasn’t what they were looking for.

“Here.” Takitsubo pointed at the screen Mugino was operating. “I saw this error before too. We’ve tried three computers with different access levels and from different sections, but none of them have been able to log into this one server. That means it has the strictest security. This says it’s a parallel machine for use during heavy network traffic, but that can’t be true.”

“In the end, doesn’t it look like no one here is able to get into that server? It’s like a special box that none of the staff’s passwords or access privileges can get open.”

“So is it a personal server that only Ainame Caroline can access?”

If so, then the lab’s overall project would have been effectively stalled since that head researcher had been driven out half a year ago. It also meant Ainame Caroline couldn’t get the data she wanted through her online marriage scams. Not when none of her victims could get at the data she needed.

It was sounding all the more certain that Honey Queen would directly attack the lab. Even if Ainame Caroline’s Thoughtography had foretold Item’s ambush, Honey Queen would have no choice but to go for it.

“That would make this secret server the lab’s super final boss.”

If it had been set up from the beginning to prevent access, no amount of messing with it would let Item view the data. Not when they didn’t have a hacker on the team.

But if they could bypass that basic set up, they could break through that thick wall.

“Hm, hm♪”

Frenda hummed as she removed a wall panel and connected a few cables to her phone. Her work with precise time bombs and UAV bombers had given her solid electronic and hardware skills. She must have needed to learn a variety of skills to survive on the dark side as a Level 0.

“I’ve located the signal relay control point based on where the error response cuts off my access. But in the end, a physical bypass should circumvent it. Operating a manual switch should do the trick.”

“Care to dumb that down for the rest of us?”

“There’s a special gatekeeper that checks the username and blocks the way if it’s the wrong person. But if we rewire the cables to go around that device, the signals can get through without needing the gatekeeper’s approval. Which means we can view all the secret data we want.”

Then it was time to do just that.

…Or so Mugino thought, but Frenda wasn’t moving from the spot.

“What’s the holdup?”

“Um, where the work needs to happen is a problem.” Frenda scratched her cheek with her index finger. “In the end, someone needs to dive into the pool of supercomputer coolant and work underwater.”

“Can you super not swim, Frenda-san?”

“This isn’t ordinary water. It has a higher relative density. See, it’s a liquid of coolant particles. Dive in there clothed and the heavy particles will catch in the fibers like they’re a filter and you won’t be able to float back up again.”

They all exchanged a glance.

Except for Takitsubo who tilted her head with her usual empty look and made a suggestion.

“Then can’t you just strip down naked before diving into the coolant pool?”

They all fell silent again.

They had ridden personal watercraft over muddy water in the pouring rain of the typhoon. They were already so soaked their skin and underwear were showing through their clothes, but Item still had the exact same thought at the exact same time.

“I’m still not stripping down in here.” “I’m still not stripping down in here.” “I’m still not stripping down in here.”

“?”

The track suit girl was the odd one out, but they still knew what they needed to do.

Only one of them needed to do the work, so they only had to choose a single sacrifice and strip off all her clothes.

So…

“How about we wrestle over it?”

“Wait, wait, wait, no, no, no!! Muuugiiinooo! In the end, you can’t just knock me down out of nowhere and perform a giant swiiiiiiiiiing!!!”

While Frenda was spun around by her ankles, her miniskirt looked a lot like an umbrella in a typhoon, but that wasn’t enough to settle it. How wild was that demon lord if she could outshine Kinuhata Saiai and her Offense Armor when it came to martial arts?

Takitsubo Rikou tilted her head again.

“Mugino. I think no one would complain if you chose a fairer way of deciding.”

“What, like our intelligence? Or our femininity? That wouldn’t be fair for Kinuhata when she’s so short and scrawny. Here, Kinuhata, you can use my handkerchief.”

“Are you super picking a fight with me? If you wanna wrestle, then let’s fucking wrestle, you little…”

The casual barb made Kinuhata lower her head and mutter something (in her murderous #1 mode), but that wasn’t what Takitsubo had meant. Not that she said anything to comfort Kinuhata.

Takitsubo pulled out a deck of cards she had picked up in the recreation room.

“How about we play cards? Everyone knows how to play old maid and I think that game is more about luck than strategy.”