Part 16

The bright flare faded away and there was a ringing sound left in Kirika's ears but she soon realized that she was still alive. As she blinked several times, her vision slowly returned and she saw that the Phantom Thieves had erected energy barriers all around them in order to stop the explosions from hitting them.

She left out a huge sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground, taking absolute care not to touch anyone. The Thieves lowered the barrier after a while and started to discuss something amongst themselves and when Kirika's hearing had returned, she heard Tsubasa calling out to her.

"...going on? Answer me, Akatsuki!" her senior shouted to her and Kirika wearily responded, telling her that she was fine but the Dolls had tried to blow all four of them up. Tsubasa let out a sigh of relief before saying, "Alright. I think all of us should gather up and compare notes. I'll send the agents and Kanade to safety first before meeting you guys here." The location appeared on Kirika's UI and it was a floor above from them.

Kirika nodded and cleared her throat loudly, causing Shirabe to look at her. She explained Tsubasa's suggestion and her classmate frowned at the idea.

"What's wrong, Shirabe?" Serena asked gently and Shirabe hesitated for a moment before she explained the idea to Maria and Serena.

"That does sound like a good plan," Serena said when Shirabe was done. "Let's do it."

"Wait, what?" Shirabe said incredulously and Maria sighed in exasperation, folding her arms at her younger sister's words. "They arrested you, locked you up and from the looks of it, tortured the two of you for nearly a week and you want to save them?"

"Yes," she replied. "It's what we do, remember? Save people from monsters? Or are we supposed to just let them die just because they were horrible to us?"

"Er...yes?" Shirabe replied before she turned to Maria. "What about you? You don't look like you want to do this either."

Maria hesitated for a moment, her eyes darting between the two of them for a moment before she looked at Kirika who shrugged in response. The oldest girl sighed before saying, "You're right. I don't want to do it either. They were horrible to us and I just want to get out of here quickly."

Shirabe beamed at her and said, "Great. Now let's just..."

"But," Maria said, holding up her hand to indicate that she still had something to say. "Serena is right in that we are supposed to be saving people. On the practical side, maybe it will get them to stop fighting us and we can continue to fight the Noise in the future without being chased by these guys ever again. They'll owe us if we rescue them, after all."

The youngest girl opened her mouth once more to refute the sentiment but she closed her mouth and thought about it for a moment. "I guess that does make sense," she said thoughtfully. "Alright. We'll go and save them, get them to recognize that we aren't the bad guys and that way, we'll be free to do what we want," she said.

"Let's do this then," Kirika said cheerfully, pleased that all of the Thieves were onboard with helping them and she started to lead them towards the meeting location.

***

It took a short while to get there and they had to wait for about ten minutes before Tsubasa arrived. In fact, before she had arrived, Tsubasa had radioed Kirika, warning her that Kanade was coming along with her.

"Eh? Why?" Kirika had asked as Shirabe looked at her in surprise. "Isn't she still in critical condition?"

"That's what I told her but she refused to listen," Tsubasa said, sounding extremely annoyed. "I told her that she would just be in the way and it would mean that I'd have to look after her but she still insisted on meeting the Phantom Thieves face to face."

Kirika let out a sigh herself before she explained to Shirabe what was happening and the latter then proceeded to relay the message over to the other Thieves.

"Wait...you're telling me that the other two mech suits were Zwei Wing?" Maria asked in disbelief after she had heard the story and Kirika nodded to her. "Huh...that was something that I really didn't expect to hear at all. We've been fighting Japan's top idol duo the whole time..."

Serena turned and looked intensely at Kirika. "And what's your secret?" she asked and Kirika shook her head to insist that there was none.

"She's just a girl who died, came back to life with a crystal where her heart used to be and is apparently a fan of mine," Shirabe said dryly and Kirika glared at her, sticking her tongue at her even though she knew that Shirabe could not see the action.

Regardless, the tension between the four of them seemed to have lessened a little and when Tsubasa and Kanade arrived, the latter on a wheelchair, it dropped further when Kanade waved at them cheerfully. Kirika trotted over to her, kneeling down in order to hug her but Kanade tapped her helmet and shook her head.

"Not when you're in a big metal suit, kiddo," she said sternly before grinning at her. "How have you been?" she asked and Kirika gave her a thumbs up. Kanade herself looked a little better, she thought. A little pale but there was some color in her cheeks and she sounded a lot stronger compared to the last time she saw her.

Tsubasa cleared her throat and Kirika stepped away, allowing Kanade to wheel herself to the three Phantom Thieves. "Now, let's get a good look at the three of you," she said, her eyes darting between the three girls before resting on Maria. "Well now, Miss Class Rep. How are you doing?" she asked mischievously and Maria's eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh, for crying out loud," Maria said and walked over to Kanade. "Of all the people to be here, it's Amano Kaede?" She leaned forward to tug at Kanade's hair who gave her a pained grin.

"This is my real hair actually. Also, did you miss me while I was gone?" she said with a wink and Maria groaned as her sister hid her mouth with her hand and Tsubasa just shook her head before stepping forward to separate the two.

The latter gestured at the two older girls to stop their bickering and Maria glared at her before turning to Kanade one last parting shot: "Not at all. In fact, it was pretty peaceful without you around. Even when I was stuck in this place."

Kirika winced at those words as did Kanade who said, "Sorry I couldn't do much to make things better for you. I'm kinda stuck in this for a little while more."

Maria folded her arms once more and grunted an apology as Serena stepped forward and bowed to Tsubasa and Kanade. "Pleased to formally meet the two of you. I'm guessing that if this is Amano Kaede, then you're Kanzaki Tsukasa?" she said politely and Tsubasa returned the bow before she told Kirika to get out of her Gear.

Once they had both done so, Maria, Serena and Shirabe removed their Thief outfit and the two parties stared at each other for a moment. "We're gathered here today for the greater good," Tsubasa started to say before Kanade wheeled in front of her, cutting her off.

"No speeches, Tsubasa. We know what we have to do," she said curtly before she looked at the three Thieves. "Truce for now and after this is done, we'll talk to the old man to let you go. Deal?"

"That works," Serena said with a smile. "So, do you have a plan?"

"We go to the security department and check the cameras. See what happened in here and figure out where those secret rooms are located. There's also a chance that we can undo whatever is jamming the communications with the outside world as well as the elevator problem that we ran into earlier," Tsubasa said.

Kirika shivered, still recalling the long drop to the ground and Kanade patted her back lightly as Shirabe nearly stepped forward herself before the latter restrained herself. Maria glanced at Shirabe who did not respond as Tsubasa asked, "Is this alright with everyone?"

"It'll do for now," Serena said and everyone sans Kanade suited up once more before Tsubasa took the lead. To facilitate communications, Shirabe connected her phone to both Tsubasa's and Kirika's gear before setting it on loudspeaker for everyone to hear. On her part, Kanade still insisted on following them however, at least up to the security department.

"Don't really want to feel left out for this big moment," she said when Kirika asked her why and Tsubasa just shook her head as she trudged ahead of the group.

"So you're just doing all this for the sake of excitement?" Kirika asked and Kanade grinned at her.

"Maybe," she said with a grin. "Or maybe I'm just concerned for everyone here and I want to be able to support all of you as best as I can."

"She just wants the excitement," Tsubasa said flatly before coming to a stop and holding her hand up. Kirika stopped and looked around curiously at the empty hallway they were currently walking along.

"What's wrong, Tsubasa-san?" she asked her senior and the latter shook her head, pointing at the closed-circuit cameras above them, their red lights blinking as they point at the group.

"I didn't notice until now but I think whoever it is that has taken over the base is watching us," she said quietly. Panicking a little, Kirika pulled up a map of the area and scanned the hallway for any sort of security traps. There appeared to be none as far as she could tell and she mentioned this to everyone.

"Yeah, but that's the old security system," Tsubasa pointed out. "Dr Sakurai's new security system came online two days ago and we haven't fully updated the map to indicate the changes down."

"That's a terrible security system if you fell to an intruder that quickly," Maria observed and Tsubasa nodded once before she hesitated. Kanade glanced at her and Kirika noticed her eyes hardening for the briefest of moments before she grinned at everyone.

"Yeah. Our bad," she said cheerfully. "Come on. We'd better hurry over to the security system and take it out before things get worse for us."

"R...right," Kirika said hurriedly and continued to trot to the security department. The three Phantom Thieves gave each other a cautious look before they too resumed on their way to the security department. All throughout, every security camera turned towards them, their red lights blinking ominously as they slowly made their way to their destination.

***

It did not take them long before they arrived at the department's entrance and by this point, Kirika's nerves were frayed, to put it mildly. She had been jumping at every little noise that popped up, only to find out that it was nothing more than their own footsteps.

"Relax, Kirika," Kanade said after the fifth time it had happened. "There's no point in jumping at everything and it just tires you out as well. Might as well stay cool and takes things in stride."

She took a deep breath after hearing that but it did not help and she tried to relief it by talking to Kanade, asking her how the other personnel would escape since the elevator they took was stuck halfway through the shaft.

"I don't think that's what they're going to do," Kanade replied. "They're probably going to hide in the hangar, fortify it until they find a way to escape. Or until we save the day and stop this situation from escalating." Kirika nodded, thinking about this for a while until they arrived at the security department.

Kanade entered the department first, taking charge this time as she looked around for anything that would help them override the security system. "Do you know what you're looking for?" Maria asked as she stepped in, looking around the monitor-filled area.

"Honestly? Not really. But I figured that we could just wing it by looking at every single computer in here and trying them out until we find the right one," she replied with a shrug, causing Maria to groan in response.

"We're trying to save people and your best answer is to wing it?" she said and Kanade chuckled.

"Well, duh. I am part of Zwei Wing after all. Winging it is what I do best," she replied immediately and both Tsubasa and Maria slapped their foreheads at once. They looked at each other for a brief moment before they started laughing and Kanade grinned at them as everyone else laughed, the tension having been partially lifted.

"Anyways, let's get moving," Kanade said, clapping her hands. "We've got people to rescue and no time to lose." Everyone nodded and they started to search the area as best as they can. It did not take them long to find a working computer and they crowded around it as Maria looked at the screen to see what was on it.

What Kirika could see was a few windows on the screen, running multiple lines of code and she asked what it all meant. "I have no idea," Maria said seriously. "I'm not a tech expert you know."

"Anyone here is?" Kanade asked and everyone shook their heads. "Figures," she grumbled. "But it does Security override on the top of the window though, so that should be it, right? What if we canceled the window? Would it work?" she asked.

"Maybe," Maria replied but there was a lot of doubt in her voice. "I'm still waiting for the catch behind all this." Nervously, Kirika glanced over her shoulder to see if there is anyone approaching the door. Her eyes widen though, when she noticed something else instead.

"Incoming enemy!" she shouted just as something stepped into the department. Everyone except for Serena dived to the side as bullets started to sprayed all over the area. For her part, Serena simply raised her hand, creating a barrier that protected herself from the incoming attack.

"Is that Ydalir?" Tsubasa said in disbelief as she used her body to shield Kanade from any potential harm. The latter peered out from behind her to squint at the attacker before ducking back into cover when several bullets flew past her.

"Yeah, looks like it alright. Guess they're bringing it back into action after stealing it from us," she said grimly.

"So what's the plan?" Kirika shouted as Serena continued to maintain her barrier. "Do we smash it up?"

"We still need it for later operations," Tsubasa reminded her. "Disable it and we can get the Gear back on our side. Maybe even Maria can fit inside the Gear," she said with a grin towards the older girl. The latter rolled her eyes and darted forward as the Gear stopped firing at them.

"Got you!" she shouted, her knife flashing as she raised it to strike at the Gear. Instead, a second figure stepped out from behind Ydalir and her eyes widened.

"Oh come on!" Kanade shouted in annoyance when she saw Gungnir leaping towards Maria. It was lacking its usual lance however and it looked to Kirika like its fists, knees and boots were heavily reinforced instead. Maria let out a surprised gasp as Gungnir swung its fists at her instead, knocking her back.

Both Shirabe and Kirika jumped out, catching Maria as she flew through the air and Serena fired several butterflies at the two Gears, causing small explosions around them and forcing them into cover. As they moved back, there was a slight awkwardness to their movements, Kirika thought and she pointed this out to the others.

"Then they're probably being remotely controlled or programmed to fight us," Tsubasa guessed and Kanade nodded in agreement. "Don't worry too much about it. It just makes it easier for us to reclaim them back."

"Yeah, just don't wreck my Gear too much, okay?" Kanade called out just as Ydalir opened fire on them once more. This time, it was Maria's turn to call up a barrier to defend themselves and Kirika glanced at Shirabe. The latter glanced at her once more and gestured with her hand towards Gungnir.

"Let's take her out together," she suggested and Kirika nodded in response, readying her staff as she waited for Ydalir to stop attacking them. Tsubasa and Serena glanced at each other as well and the four of them prepared themselves to move out.

As soon as Ydalir's guns stopped firing, Maria lowered her barrier and the four Gears and Thieves charged out before Maria raised the barrier once more to defend Kanade and the computers behind her. Kirika ran as quickly as she could towards Gungnir while Shirabe threw her yo-yos ahead of her, using them as bolas.

The Gear shifted its right leg up, catching both bolas on its left leg instead and Kirika used the chance to sweep low at its left leg while it was not as balanced. The Gear jumped up however before her blow could land and it lashed out with its foot, kicking her in the chin and knocking her back towards Shirabe.

Startled, Shirabe let out a surprised cry and dodged to the side as Kirika flew past, conjuring up two more yo-yos which she swung as hard as she could, using the momentum of her roller-blading to strike at the Gear. It reached out and caught her yo-yos instead, using them to swing her around before hurling her at Kirika.

She looked up just in time to see Shirabe flying towards her and instinctively, she reached out, grabbing her before she slam into her into. "Let me go!" Shirabe snapped at once and Kirika did so as the former's form wavered a little.

"Sorry," Kirika said quickly as she felt her heart quicken from the momentary touch and a surge of energy flowed through her body. If she was going to suffer for this, the least she could was take down the Gear, she thought to herself before calming her mind and channeling the excess energy into her staff.

Her opponent took on a defensive stance as the energy scythe formed and Kirika grinned to herself before she charged, swinging her blade at the Gear. It ducked and weaved, focusing on defending itself against Kirika's attacks and Shirabe took the chance to roller-blade up the wall and onto the ceiling above the Gear instead.

At the opportune moment, the Phantom Thief dropped several yo-yos onto the Gear, causing several explosions to erupt around it. As it staggered from the attack, Kirika stepped forward and slashed at the Gear, tearing a hole in its chest plate.

Underneath the chest plate, there was the expected bits of circuitry and torn armor but Kirika could also see that there was flesh and a bit of blood flowing and she nearly lost her grip on her staff. "What's wrong?" Shirabe shouted at her as she hurled another yo-yo at the Gear's exposed part.

Desperately, Kirika slashed at the yo-yo, slicing it before it could reach its target. "No! There's someone inside Gungnir!" she shouted back and there was a sudden pause in the combat when everyone heard that. Ydalir smashed its fist into Tsubasa, knocking her back and giving itself some breathing space before opening fire on everyone.

Serena held up her hand, forming a barrier to protect the four fighters as they group around her. As everyone stared at Kirika, she pointed at Gungnir and there were murmurs and gasps of shock when they saw that there was indeed a person inside the Gear.

"Well, that's not going to make things easy for us," Kanade grumbled before she took a deep breath. "New plan then. I'll work on this computer, Maria protects me and the rest of you guys keep them busy. No harming them any more than necessary."

"What? Why?" Maria asked quickly and Kanade shot a glance at her.

"Because chances are extremely high that the people in the Gear are one of the students from the school," she said, pointing up at the ceiling. "I don't think anyone of us would want to accidentally kill a friend, would we?"

Maria's face grew pale and she nodded her head quickly before taking over the barrier from Serena. Tsubasa, Serena, Shirabe and Kirika ran out once more, making their way towards their original target once more. As a precaution, Kirika dropped the energy scythe from her staff and chose to tackle Gungnir instead, hoping to immobilize her opponent instead.

To her surprise, Gungnir managed to grab her wrists before she could attack, twisting her around so that she ended up caught in her opponent's grasp instead. Before she could do anything, Gungnir lifted up, suplexing her onto the ground with a thunderous crash.

As Kirika lay on the ground, she barely noticed that Shirabe was roller-blading up to Gungnir, twirling her yo-yos rapidly. She flung her weapons at Gungnir again and this time, she managed to ensnare both of Gungnir's wrists. "Gotcha," she said softly before speeding up in order to pull the Gear away.

Or at least, she tried to. Gungnir stood firm in place and engaged the Phantom Thief in a tug of war, refusing to give way. "A little help please," Kirika heard Shirabe say over the radio and she forced herself to stand up, shaking the stars away as best as she can before she charged at Gungnir from behind.

This time, her attack worked and she managed to knock her opponent to the ground. Shirabe nodded her thanks before blading in, using her yo-yos to tie Gungnir's wrists and ankles together in order to keep the Gear down. It struggled for a while as Kirika and Shirabe stepped back for a moment to catch breaths.

But bullets sprayed past them and they dodged to the side, Kirika instinctively shielding Shirabe with her body as Ydalir moved in on them, firing its mini-guns wildly in order to cover for its partner. "Are you done yet?" Kirika shouted at Kanade.

"Give me another minute," the latter shouted back. "Did you think it was going to be this easy to shut down the security system?"

"I was hoping it was," Kirika shouted back and Tsubasa gestured at her as Gungnir broke free of its restraints.

"Let's switch up," her senior suggested to her. Kirika nodded and the two of them exchanged targets, with Kirika jumping towards Ydalir and swinging her staff at the Gear's guns.

Her opponent jumped away and Shirabe roller-bladed past Kirika, swinging her yo-yos at its weapons this time, catching them both. With a simple twist, she tried to wrench the guns out of shape but it seemed that Ydalir realized this and fired on Shirabe instead.

She yelped in shock, barely conjuring a barrier to protect herself in time as Kirika smashed her staff into the guns, forcing them to fire at the ground instead. Calmly, Ydalir turned around and opened fire on Kirika instead, bullets pelting painful against the Gear's armor plates.

Kirika quickly covered her face with her arms, using her Gear's armor to defend herself and Shirabe pulled on her yo-yos again, forcing Ydalir's aim away and towards Gungnir instead. The other Gear shifted itself so that its back would take the brunt of the bullets and Kirika winced at the sight of Gungnir getting shot like that.

Ydalir swung its guns back towards Kirika however as Gungnir turned around and lunged at Shirabe instead, ignoring Tsubasa's slash at it. This took Shirabe by surprised and Gungnir landed a solid blow on her, knocking her down to the ground.

"Shirabe!" Kirika shouted in alarm and rushed to the Phantom Thief's side, only to be shot in the back by Ydalir. Pain shot through her body as she collapsed to the ground and the two enemy Gears turned their attention on Tsubasa and Serena this time.

"I think I've got this," Kirika heard Kanade say over the radio. "It says shutting down security system but there's at least another minute left so please, hang in there all four of you." That was some good news at least, Kirika thought before forcing herself to stay up.

Tsubasa was doing an admirable job, she thought as she watched her senior dart in and out, slashing at Gungnir and forcing it on the defensive while giving Serena opportunities to blast at Ydalir. Her eyes darted to Shirabe who was staggering up as well and she ran over to her side.

"Are you hurt bad?" she asked, nearly reaching out to touch her but stopping herself just in time. Shirabe gritted her teeth and shook her head, wiping away a bit of blood from her mouth.

"I'm fine. My outfit managed to absorb most of the impact," she replied through clenched teeth. Her left hand rested on the lower left side of her chest though and Kirika saw that it was slowly being colored scarlet with each passing second.

"You look pretty..."

"I know I look pretty bad," she snapped. "But we can't rest now. We have to make sure that Kanade-san has enough time to get that system shut down, right?"

After a second, Kirika nodded and replied, "Fine. But I'm your bodyguard for the rest of this whole thing, okay?"

"I don't..."

"You do," Kirika said before getting up once more. "You're hurt and I'm not going to let the class rep skip class because she had to go to the hospital. It sucks, I can tell you that."

Shirabe smirked before steadying herself against the wall. "I guess you do have enough time in a hospital given the number of absences you've had so far," she said before she hurled a yo-yo at Ydalir, ensnaring one of its arms and pulling its gun up into the air.

Kirika grinned and charged forward, feinting with her staff before kicking at Ydalir's gun instead, bending the barrel out of shape. Ydalir pointed its other gun at Kirika but Shirabe swung her yo-yo at it again, slamming into the gun and Kirika seized her chance to smash into the second gun, damaging it as well.

"Now what can you do?" she taunted Ydalir a second before it dropped its guns and two crossbows sprang out from its arms. "Eh?" Kirika said in stunned surprise before the Gear fired them at her. One bolt exploded before it could hit her and while she was blinded, the second bolt struck her midriff, delivering an intense electrical surge that caused her UI to glitch.

She let out a frustrated shout as her Gear shut down from the electrical overload and for a moment, she could only hear the sounds of fighting around her. Then she closed her eyes and did her best to calm down instead. She cannot protect Shirabe if she was not calm, she told herself and her heart started to resonate with her thoughts, providing her with a song to restart her Gear.

Her Gear rebooted itself just in time for her to see Ydalir firing bolts at Shirabe, who was doing her best to avoid getting hit. Gungnir was keeping Tsubasa and Serena away from interfering but it also looked like no one noticed that she could move once more.

Taking the chance, she darted towards Ydalir, swinging her staff at its back and she struck it down in a single blow. Ydalir turned to fire its crossbows at her but she smashed it aside and struck ahead, hitting its head hard enough to smash aside a piece of its helm and revealing a shock of silvery-white hair.

"Eh?" Kirika said in surprise at the sight just as Kanade let out a cry of triumph.

"Got it!" she said, lifting her arms up. Gungnir tried to attack her but Maria dropped her barrier and jumped forward, kicking the Gear back and knocking it into Ydalir.  The two enemy Gears got up and Kirika got a closer look at Ydalir's user.

"Chris?" she said out loud, surprising everyone else in the room but Ydalir did not respond to her words, firing a bolt at her. It exploded again and Kirika was flung back as the two Gears make as if to attack them but they suddenly stopped.

Tsubasa charged forward, ready to strike at the Gears while they were still but Kirika jumped in front of her instead. "Wait, no! I think that's Chris!" she shouted at Tsubasa, grabbing her arm to prevent her from moving.

"Akatsuki...let go..." she said angrily as Ydalir and Gungnir turned away and ran off, retreating as quickly as they can. Tsubasa pulled herself away from Kirika and started to chase after them while Maria ran after her. Shirabe collapsed to the ground herself, causing Serena to rush to her side.

All Kirika could do at this point was to stare out into the hallway, watching as Tsubasa and Maria gave chase after the two enemy Gears. If that one is Chris, then the other one is...Hibiki? she thought to herself. But...how? What happened? Shouldn't Sakurai-sensei be looking after them?

Before she realized it, Kanade was over by her side, tapping on her suit lightly. "Oy," Kanade said, her tone neutral. "It sounded like you knew who the people using the Gears were." Kirika looked down at her for a moment before nodding her head hesitantly.

"I...I think so. I think they were my friends that agents captured yesterday," she said cautiously. "Kazanari-sensei said that he was going to get Sakurai-sensei to look after them and now they're here and..."

"Hey," Kanade said sharply and tapped her suit again. "That just means they were taken by whoever took over the base and they were forced to fight in the Gears, that's all. It doesn't mean anything else," she continued, gripping both of Kirika's wrists. "So stay calm and keep focused, okay?"

"Alright," she replied softly and took a deep breath before she went over to Shirabe's side. She almost took the other girl's hand but restrained herself at the last moment and simply asked Serena if the other girl was fine.

"I'll make it," Shirabe replied through gritted teeth as Serena waved her hands over Shirabe, conjuring up a makeshift bandages to wrap around her chest. She winced in pain as the bandages are wound tightly around her and she said, "What happened? Were those really your friends?"

Kirika just looked down and out of the window, not answering that question as she waited for Tsubasa and Maria to return to them. Part of her wanted to know the truth; the other part was terrified of what it could all mean and she did not know what she wanted right now.