Chapter 1 - The Plan

Frenda Seivelun runs frantically around her apartment, gathering as many supplies as she can. She just got released by SCHOOL after selling out Mugino to them. Mugino, the head of ITEM, is not a fan of sell outs or snitches among the team. While she had escaped from what was otherwise certain doom, the victory was short lived. Once Mugino got her hands on Frenda, she'd be dead. She has to run, but where can she hide? Mugino would hunt her endlessly, and eventually find her and kill her.

No, she can't simply run away, she has to stop Mugino from killing her – the only way she can. Frenda decides that she must kill Mugino, the 4th ranked esper in the entire city… Well, she's had a somewhat good life already, maybe it would not be bad to accept it – maybe Mugino would make it quick if she didn't have to hunt for her. As she is thinking this, she checks her phone, considering sending a message directly to Mugino, or at least to the rest of ITEM, but she spots a name in the list. One single name, Saten Ruiko, stands out. The others, she can call associates, barely colleagues, but that name – that person – is special. She was someone she could call a… friend, that was it, a friend. She had been there the last time someone had tried to assassinate her – Frenda had mistakenly thought that it was Ruiko who was being attacked. Could she really give up? She'd leave Ruiko behind, never knowing where she went.

Frenda makes the decision that she needs to make a stand. If she had time to prepare then maybe, just maybe. She did, after all, almost succeed in killing the 3rd ranked esper, Railgun. If she could use her knowledge of Mugino, maybe she'd have a chance. And even if she failed, at least she'd go down fighting. She'd need explosives – lots of explosives. And she'd need space. With a partial plan in mind, she rigs a few small explosives to destroy everything left in her apartment, and sets out. Even if she survived today, there was no way she'd be able to return there.

She arrives in the warehouse district and takes note of two different builds close to each other – one looking severely damaged and liable to collapse, and one actually fairly intact. Certainly something that could contain enough of a gas to cause a buildup. Yes, this would do just nicely – A trap. If she put most of her explosive power into collapsing the first building on Mugino, it could disorient her for a bit and enrage her further. Then she could use that to lure one of the deadliest people alive into the second building – Mugino never really knew the meaning of "Tactical Retreat". She wouldn't see it coming – her own ability, Meltdowner, would be her doom. Frenda finds the one thing she needed, Methane Tanks, and found where the gas entered the building. She opens the valve then, using a carefully placed knife, opens the pipe into the air, after sealing off as much of the building as she can. The gas would mix with the air, and when the powerful plasma beam creates arcs in the gas, it would ignite. If that doesn't kill Mugino, Frenda doesn't know what will.

There was a problem with the plan though. Frenda would need to time it perfectly so she doesn't get caught up in the explosion herself. And she had to enter the building herself in order to lure Mugino in there. Hmm… The building looked to be about 50 metres long, and she could sprint at about 7.5 m/s, so she could probably clear the building in about 7 seconds. That should be plenty of time. Especially if it took at least 15 seconds for Mugino to get out of the rubble from the first building, she could easily set up to be in the middle of the warehouse when Mugino got in there, and it would take at least 5 seconds for Mugino to charge Meltdowner to saturation.

Confident in her trap and escape plan, Frenda starts to set up the first building, placing almost every explosion from her stash around key support pillars, but not easily viewed, mixing in some of her thermobarics to consume some of the oxygen, adding to Mugino's disorientation. She laid her fuses in inconspicuous locations, so she could set them to explode without Mugino noticing them. The last key to the puzzle was going to be playing the part of a frightened girl who spent the whole day running – well the frightened part was fairly easy. Even with all the planning, Frenda still had a nagging feeling that she wouldn't survive today. Could she really kill the 4th highest ranked level 5 esper in Academy City, with merely a building full of explosives, and a building full of gas? I mean, it was kinda like scaling a mountain with just hiking boots. Heck, the weakest level 5 probably still is more powerful than the entire plan. But… she had to at least try. She owed it to herself… to try.

The sun was starting to set. It was time. Frenda Seivelun adopted a curled up hiding pose inside of the first building, when she heard a familiar voice ringing through the world, calling "Frenda…".