Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:RailgunSS2 Chapter7 (section)

=== Part 2 ===

“I have a suggestion,” Lessar said to Mikoto as the other girl thought.

Mikoto looked puzzled.

“What is this all of a sudden?”

“If the modified MIG-21 continues at a normal rate, it will reach the center of Academy City in less than an hour. We cannot worry about our appearance right now. We need to find the person who is controlling this plan.”

“And?”

“The destructive force of the Solntse is massive, so the higher ups must have prepared a system to prevent the pilot from betraying them. Simply put, the bomb will not detonate if the pilot merely drops it. After the pilot drops it, the higher ups will send out a detonation signal. I’m betting a system like that has been built in,” Lessar explained. “Otherwise, there is a risk of the pilot betraying the higher ups and dropping a Solntse on the shopping mall. And if there is a unit of those old fighters, they could even drop one here and then run off with the rest once any pursuers have been utterly eliminated.”

Mikoto started to nod in agreement, but…

(…Huh?)

Something bothered her.

However, she could not get a proper grasp of what exactly it was.

Meanwhile, Lessar had continued speaking.

“In other words, even if they manage to get past the air defenses of Academy City and the JSDF, the dropped Solntse will not detonate as long as the detonation signal is not sent out.”

“In that case, there’s something we can do other than sitting here twiddling our thumbs.”

“Yes, we can find and capture whoever is controlling this plan.”

As Lessar spoke, she tossed something from between her fingers.

The object that spun through the air like a Frisbee in Mikoto’s direction was a single ID card.

“This is…?”

“I found it back in that passageway. That card holds authorization of the highest rank. If we search through the areas and data surrounding that person, we can get an idea of these invisible higher ups’ identities. We may even be able to figure out where their hiding places are.”

She had not lied.

But she had left out the little fact that “whoever is controlling this plan” may have changed from being the higher ups to being some third party.