Reflected echo - continue_the_fall

“Railgun does not fully understand your intentions, Railgun says, however if you intend to hold me captive it will be met by heavy retaliation from my people.”

“Oh, Sissy!” Kuroko moaned. “Can you really not remember anything of our deep, everlasting love for each other?!”

She reached forward to wrap both forelegs around Misaka 9748, which proved to be a mistake as one of the lightning bolts in 9748’s fur was jiggled loose.

-ZAP-!

“Don’t touch me.” 9748 said in a complete monotone that somehow still managed to sound contemptuous, looking down at Kuroko’s smoking body.

Twilight, who was rummaging through cupboards and bookshelves on the other side of the Golden Oak’s library’s basement, looked up and over at the two of them. “4:55 PM. Subject 0004 displays intense hostility to 0003, supposedly her friend.”

Kuroko moaned “Actually, this is normal…” at the same time as Spike yelped “Wait, I’m still taking notes?”. Ignoring both of them, Twilight went back to rummaging in cupboards.

9748 looked around at the underground room. Whoever designed it had apparently been on a B-grade sci-fi kick when they had – there were large scientific instruments taking up much of the floorspace that 9748 was reasonably sure were decorative. The roots of a large tree dangled down from above and wrapped around some of the equipment, giving the room an air of abandonment despite the fact that it was clean and well-maintained.

“Ah-ha!” Twilight crowed. “I was hoping that there would be one of these down here!”

Kuroko flopped around on the ground to face Twilight, and she, Spike, and 9748 all stared at the contraption that she had telekinetically pulled out of one of the cupboards. It resembled a wide-brim hat comprised primarily out of light-bulbs, and thus looked like an even lower-quality prop than the rest of the basement lab.

“I’ll just place this on Stagehand to get a baseline reading –” Twilight said, proceeding to do so “– and then I’ll record Railgun’s brainwaves, and hopefully the comparison will tell us –”

-Zap!- -Bang!-

Just before the device touched 9748’s fur, a bright flash and the smell of ozone suddenly filled the room as a spark jumped from her tea-coloured mane to the device, causing all of its light-bulbs to shatter explosively.

Spike yelped, and toppled backwards off of the counter-top he had been sitting on.

Kuroko looked up with wide eyes at one of her pigtails, which was swinging back and forth with the force of the glass shard that had whizzed through it.

Twilight, who had been standing at ground zero, blinked uncomprehendingly. Several red lines traced themselves across her muzzle, and the metallic smell of blood began to mix with the ozone.

For a moment, there was complete silence.

“What –” Twilight found her voice “– what was that for?!”

“You did not ask Railgun for permission to read her brainwaves, Railgun scoffs.”

One of Twilight’s sleep-deprived eyes began to twitch. “And because of that, you decided to blow up a valuable scientific instrument in my face?!”

“Yes, Railgun says, glad that the rude pony has understood her point.”

“You – agh!” Twilight let out a noise of pure frustration. She turned away in a huff, using her magic to pull a first-aid kit out of another cupboard. She walked into the nearby bathroom, set herself up in front of the mirror, and slammed the door shut with a purple aura.

The moment the door closed, 9748 immediately turned around and began to walk back up the stairs.

“W-wait! Sissy, where are you going?!” Kuroko vanished with a flash and reappeared in 9748’s path.

“Railgun is leaving, Railgun states the obvious.” The Sister said, shoving Kuroko out of the way. “Railgun has much better things to do than to entertain the fantasies of ponies she doesn’t know, Railgun adds with a note of scorn in her voice.”

In a way, the monotone voice and emotionless eyes made it worse. Kuroko stared wordlessly as the object of her affections walked out, the dismissal obvious in the way she didn’t look back.

“W-wow, she’s really eating all of it!”

“Applejack, fetch more of them fruit!”

“Yes granny!”

“The Apple family ain’t gonna lose in a battle of food!”

Saten and Uiharu were both sitting on their haunches, watching dumbly. Though neither of them had reacted much at the time, the both of them had been just as surprised as Kuroko when the white-and-gold Index had shown up at the Academy side of the portal unexpectedly. Any worries they might have had had about her intentions, however, had been completely forgotten in the face of the desperate struggle in front of them.

Uiharu in particular seemed completely flummoxed after watching Index devour the leftovers of a banquet that had been set up to feed an entire town.

Mystery-hunter Saten, on the other hand, had sparkles in her eyes.