A Railgun in Fairy Tail Book 2: Dragons

Sisters

Deep in the underground of Academy City there was area far off from the 7th District that was actually off limits to all but Anti-Skill and Judgement. But thanks to the fact that it was mostly empty except for a bunch of automated buses that weren't in use, and  that the cameras here were defective, anyone could come and go unnoticed.

As it so happened, Markorav and Laxus Dreyer were down here now, walking in between the rows of high tech vehicles that were stored here. The Fairy Tail master and the second strongest mage had been searching and investigating the underground for a while now. They had worked their way from the 7th District Shopping area, all the way down here, under the 19th District.

"What are we looking for Gramps?" Laxus asked. "We've investigated everywhere else already, why do we need to keep looking around here?"

"We're meeting someone here." said Markorav. "She....or they....have been my informants over the past week. We agreed to meet here around this date. They know the city well, plus they keep in touch with each other rather well."

"And are you going to tell me who it is we're meeting?"

"I would, but I think it's best that you see them for yourself before I explain."

Laxus suddenly noticed a figure in the distance. "Hey! Isn't that Mikoto? Hey, Mikoto, what are you doing down here?"

"That's not her." said Markorav.

"Huh? What are you talking about? That's definitely her....."

The girl without a doubt, looked exactly like Misaka Mikoto all the way down to the Tokwadai Middle School uniform. However, she seemed to be wearing some kind of high tech goggles, and she held a violin case with her (the violin case actually wasn't unusual, Mikoto was actually a very talented violin player.) Plus there was something about her expression that wasn't quite right. While Mikoto with her brash and outgoing personality always looked full of life, this girl looked blank....like a zombie.

The girl looked at Laxus with an expressionless face. "Misaka is not Big Sister, says Misaka as she explains to the strange blonde haired man."

"Eh?" said Laxus. "Why are you talking like that Mikoto?"

"That's not Mikoto." said Markarov. "It's one of her younger sisters. Or to be more specific, one of her 10,000 sisters."

Laxus looked absolutely bewildered. "10,000!? Wha-what!?"

"Misaka is a clone, says Misaka explaining further." The Sister said. "Misaka is one of over 20,000 clones that were made from Big Sister's DNA map."

"It's a long story." said Markorav. "One that I believe only Mikoto has the right to tell when she is ready. The point here though, is that each of the 10,000 current clones can connect onto a network known as the Misaka Network. It allows each clone to transfer all their memories and knowledge to each other. And that means each Sister knows what the other knows."

"I see." said Laxus. "That's why they're good informants...."

"Misaka has been observing Big Sister as requested." said the Sister. "And Misaka has also been keeping an eye on the strange man you call Purehito."

"You've been watching Mikoto too?" Asked Laxus. "Why?"

"I asked them to keep an eye on Mikoto because she's become quite a large target in the incident that's erupted lately." said Markorav. "I don't want to give Aleister the chance to put her on his twisted marrionette."

"Misaka and her Sisters has been watching for quite a while." said the Sister. "Big Sister was recently assaulted by one who called himself Zancrow. However, she was able to escape."

"Anything else?" asked Markorav.

"Misaka is sorry to say that your cafe has recently been destroyed by a strange clown man....however, Big Sister and your friends were able to defeat him.....But Misaka predicts that the strange clown man might still be a threat."

Markorav sighed. "I guess I should have known that Purehito might try to hit us where it hurt most. "

"Things are heating up." said Laxus. "We need to go back the others up."

"We will." said Markorav. "But for now we need to keep in the shadows. There is still much we need to do to make sure that Purehito doesn't have his way."

Markorav turned to look at the Sister. "I know I'm asking much, but could you and your sisters continue to keep an eye on my guild?."

"Big Sister's friends are Misaka's friends." stated the Sister. "Big Sister and the others will not leave Misaka's sight, says Misaka reassuring the nice old man."

"Thank you." said Markorav bowing his head. "It does me heart to know there are kind ones like you in this world, please be careful on your way back."

The Sister nodded and walked off, only pausing to pick up a small black kitten that apparently had been waiting for her.

"I'll admit." said Laxus. "That was......bizzare."

"They may seem like stoics." said Markorav. "But that's merely because of how they learned about life. When they were first created, they had all their knowledge of the world downloaded into them like data. But they can feel, cry, and love as much as any other human being."

"I wasn't talking about the way she acted like a robot." said Laxus. "I'm just more used to talking to Mikoto when she was........Mikoto. It's strange talking to someone who in all respects looks like someone you know.....but isn't. And then there's the issue that they all share Mikoto's DNA, do you think...?"

"No." said Markorav. "You can't copy a Dragon Born, even through cloning. While the human side can definitely be replicated, the genetic information of dragons are much too different and subtle. The original purpose of the clones were actually attempts to mass produce level 5s. However, even that failed, as the clones were only able to reach around level 2 or 3."

"So what happened to the clones afterwords?" asked Laxus. "Did they just go on to live their lives?"

"That could not be farther from the truth." said Markorav. "But like I said before, that story is for Mikoto to tell herself when she's ready."

"Well she obviously didn't tell you." said Laxus.

Markorav sighed. "I guess it couldn't hurt to tell you part of the story. You know about the level 6 shift right?"

"Mikoto said it was Academy City's attempts to create a level 6 esper. But that's never been done right? Even Black Whisper failed."

"It was predicted that if the strongest level 5 esper in Academy City were to kill Mikoto Misaka a certain number of times, that a level 6 shift could be achieved."

"Kill?" said Laxus. "Wait.....I'm starting to see where this is going."

"After a few calculations from the super computer Tree Diagram." said Markorav. "They were able to calculate how much of the weaker Misaka clones would be required to compensate for the number of times the real Railgun would need to be killed."

"How many...." said Laxus. "How many were killed?"

"10,000 out of the 20,000 that were intended to go....."

Laxus swore loudly. This wasn't an experiment, it was a massacre. A massacre of 10,000 living people. It was enough to make anyone sick....anyone human at least, because apparently the one who organized the experiment was definitely not human.

"I know." said Markarov. "When I first heard.......Well that's not the point. The experiments were stopped, And the remaining 10,000 were saved. That's all you need to know. If you want to know more, it's best we wait till Mikoto is ready to share."

"You know." said Laxus. "Sometimes....the world can be quite disgusting."

Markorav nodded. "That's why we need to keep trying to make the world better, no matter how futile it may be, it seperates us from the animals."

"Does it really?"

Markorav looked off into the distance with a peacefull look on his face. "Yes.....I'd like to think it does."