Night...
Inside the quiet data control room of the research center, beneath the bright lights, a young female researcher in a white lab coat, with fluffy shoulder-length hair, was working tensely at the keyboard.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
"..."
This young researcher was Haruue Erii. After finally earning Misaka Mikoto's trust, she had immediately started working at this central data control console. She had been at it for over ten minutes now.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Clickety-clack! Tap-tap! Tap-tap!
Her fingers continued flying over the keyboard, swiftly and skillfully entering strings of characters and code at an astonishing speed. After a series of rhythmic tapping sounds, she soon connected to the "Misaka Network," the research center's system for controlling the thousands of Misaka clones.
"Hey!"
"What's going on? What exactly are you fiddling with? Why is it taking you so long?"
Seeing the strange woman tinkering away without finishing, Kuroko Shirai was finally getting impatient. She had only just finished clearing out the research center with her beloved Onee-sama and made it here.
She certainly wasn't willing to trust this stranger, who wore a researcher's white coat and identification badge! As far as Kuroko was concerned, the woman might be one of the people they had just defeated. If she tried anything now, the situation could turn ugly.
"..."
Tap-tap! Tap! Tap-tap-tap!
Haruue didn't answer. She swiftly entered one last string of characters and code, then straightened up and looked through the glass window of the central data control room at the sinister place beyond, which resembled a factory for "making people."
Beyond it were empty cultivation pods, apparently vacated after their occupants had been created and sent out to work or be used as experimental subjects. And there were countless more pods containing Misaka Mikoto clones!
The people inside had grown