Accelerator thought about using his cell phone, but ended up walking a bit away to use a pay phone. It was possible Kihara and Hound Dog were using a device to detect a specific number on the phone lines.
He entered the phone booth which seemed a bit dirty as if no one had used it in a long time and pressed the red emergency button to call an ambulance. The jurisdiction of that area would likely automatically send the ambulance to the frog-faced doctor's hospital.
Accelerator then inserted one of his last few coins and grabbed the receiver again. While double-checking the cell phone number, he dialed one number at a time.
The number belonged to Last Order's cell phone.
"…"
But no one answered. As Accelerator silently held the receiver, he received the message stating the cell phone might be turned off or in a location without a signal.
He put down the receiver.
(…Well, that's about what I expected.)
If she had fled to some confined place, she might not receive a signal. Also, the ringtone or sound of vibration could put her in danger.
The worst possibility entered his mind, but Accelerator continued doing what must be done.
He inserted another coin and dialed a different number.
It continued ringing for a while.
Eventually, an elderly female nurse answered. Accelerator ordered her to connect him to the frog-faced doctor.
The call was quickly transferred.
"What might you need at this late hour?"
"I've run into some trouble. Some major trouble."
"I have heard the general situation from the so-called Misaka Imouto. It seems they have been exchanging information over their electric network."
(I see. So she can use that instead of her phone,) thought Accelerator in admiration.
However, he only borrowed use of the network for help with his calculations, so he could not actually communicate over it.
"That speeds things up. Tell me what you know. Where is that brat?"
"It seems she is currently being pursued by a Hound Dog unit. She is fleeing along with an unrelated person who she happened to run across. She has not been captured yet…but to be honest, it seems it is only a matter of time."
Apparently, Last Order had asked someone for help after getting away from Kihara. The only problem was whether this helper had the strength to actually help.
Accelerator clicked his tongue.
"Where is she?"
"She does not know herself. It seems to be some sort of family restaurant."
He thought for a bit, but that was not enough information to determine the location.
The frog-faced doctor said that was why the Sisters were unable to head out to search for Last Order. Of course, the ten or so Sisters in Academy City were undergoing adjustments to their bodies, so they could not be allowed to walk around in the rain for an extended period of time.
It annoyed him, but he would have to carry out his original job for the moment.
"Has a brat in a white nun's habit arrived at your place?"
"I'm not entirely sure what to do about her actually. Why does she know about your calculation assistance?"
"That's none of your business."
"…Do you really need a new battery?"
"No such thing exists, does it?" spat out Accelerator. "Just look after that brat going on about the battery. Her life will likely be targeted for the next 24 hours or so. Don't take your eyes off of her."
"What a pain. Can we not leave this problem to Anti-Skill?"
"What can those pacifist teachers do? This enemy is on a completely different level. If you don't want to increase the body count, then get that into your head."
"…I suppose so. But I never thought I would have to protect someone who is not a patient of mine."
"Well, you'll be getting a new patient too. A man who was stabbed in the back should be arriving soon. Once you give him emergency care, prepare for an attack. How much firepower do you have there?"
"Firepower? This is sounding quite dangerous."
Even the frog-faced doctor was taken aback by that, but Accelerator was not about to explain every little thing.
He did not have the time.
"You said you have a grasp of the situation via the clones' network, right? Then you should know this is no time to be acting soft. Just tell me already. The longer you sit around flustered, the odds of death rise for everyone there."
"Honestly… You like injuries and getting hospitalized just as much as that boy, don't you?"
Accelerator heard a sigh from the other side of the connection.
After a short silence, the frog-faced doctor gave his answer.
"I have about 10 of the mass produced military Sisters who are in for their adjustments. I believe they have the Metal Eater MX anti-tank rifles and F2000R Toy Soldiers they used in the experiments."
Accelerator thought for a bit.
But then he shook his head.
"That isn't enough. The clones are little help in their current state and I doubt they could handle this even in top form. Can you evacuate all of the staff and patients in the hospital?"
"Are you asking me to leave my post? Do you have any idea how many beds are in this hospital?"
"About three hundred?"
"Seven hundred," immediately replied the frog-faced doctor. "And I have 52 patients who it would be dangerous to move such as newborns and the seriously ill. Fortunately, no patients are currently in surgery, but do you know how reckless it would be to move everyone?"
"…"
"If I leave here, what happens if a new patient arrives? There is that problem as well."
Accelerator did not complain about the frog-faced doctor's words or thank him for them.
He did not have time for that.
"Can you do it?"
"I will do it," was the immediate reply. The frog-faced doctor's tone had changed to something completely different from his usual lighthearted one. "I can use a smoke bomb or something and say a fire has broken out. If it can be connected to some form of terrorist attack, that will be reason enough to justify a full evacuation. Moving some of the patients will be dangerous, but it is my job to protect their lives. I will manage somehow."
"I may have been the one to ask it of you, but can you really do this?"
"I said I would. Did you not think this would go so well? I have a few alternative options when it comes to the patients. I can assign them to other hospitals and such. If I had no alternative option, I would never have agreed."
"…Sorry about this."
"To be honest, I do not enjoy being used in your conflicts, but I will treat any patient equally. If you ask me to protect a patient brought to me, I will do everything I can to do so."
The siren of an ambulance passed by.
The Hound Dog man would soon be brought aboard the ambulance and brought to the hospital.
As Accelerator turned his ear toward the siren, the frog-faced doctor suddenly asked, "So how far are you going to take this?"
"I will kill Kihara, I will crush Hound Dog, and I will rescue that brat unharmed."
"That is impossible," was the frog-faced doctor's immediate reply.
Accelerator frowned at the frank and coolheaded tone that did not suit the man at all.
"You are taking on too many objectives in your restricted situation. You will never succeed that way. Is the world you live in one where you can somehow manage to reach your goal if you continually turn off your main path?"
"When did you decide a doctor needs to provide that kind of bullshit lip service? Someone from your world shouldn't pretend to understand the darkness."
"You seem to be mistaken about something, so allow me to correct you." The frog-faced doctor did not hesitate. He simply spoke the truth to Accelerator. "I have seen more of hell than you have. Do not look down on the profession of doctor. I believe I have seen much more blood and tears than you. But for me, it did not end in tragedy. I am known as Heaven Canceller. I am the one who brings people back from the underworld. The difference between us is simple. Do we stay there or do we make sure to come back? That's all there is to it."
The doctor paused for a moment.
But then he began speaking once more.
"Let me give you some advice as one who has known this darkness you speak of for longer than you have. Restrict yourself to a single goal. Killing Kihara? Crushing Hound Dog? You can deal with that nonsense later. There is only one thing you truly need to do here. Do you really not understand that?"
"Leave it to a doctor to put human life first. But rescuing that brat unharmed and crushing Kihara and the others are one and the same. Even if I get rid of either objective-…"
"That is not what I meant."
"Ah?"
"You want to rescue Last Order unharmed? Why are you still insisting you can do the impossible?"
"…"
Accelerator's blood froze over.
Who was this he was speaking to?
"As I said before, I have learned the situation directly from the Sisters who are exchanging information over the Misaka Network. And I believe I understand your situation fairly well, too. I know what I am talking about," said the frog faced doctor in a slow yet powerful voice. It was as if he was giving a lecture. "Start looking at reality. Surely you understood you could not manage that from the moment you were crawling pathetically on the ground. Listen: you are losing. You are facing an opponent who will be difficult to defeat at all, so what good does it do to hold all those unrealistic hopes? Compromise, Accelerator. You can no longer save Last Order unharmed. No matter well this goes for you from here on, she will certainly meet some harm."
Accelerator felt like he had been struck from a mental blind spot.
That doctor had drawn so close to him and he had not even noticed.
"…Fuck you. Can't you tell that I was vowing to kill Kihara while crawling through the mud because I didn't want to admit that?"
"I wouldn't know anything about that. If everything would go well as long as you hoped for it, I would never have become a doctor. I would be holed up in a mountain meditating 365 days a year. It is because that will never physically save people that I became a doctor. Let me be blunt: you are giving nothing but the selfish assertions of a child who refuses to see reality."
"Then what the hell am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to watch a bastard like Kihara abuse that brat and then just smile and view it all as a wonderful happy ending!?"
"Yes. That is what doctors are for." The frog-faced doctor was not moved by Accelerator's anger. His words continued smoothly. "Whether her arm is broken, her skin is peeled off, or her organs are crushed, I will make sure to save her life as long as you bring her to me alive. I will protect her life, ensure no scars remain, and provide mental care so that this person who is precious to you has been truly saved. That is what doctors are meant to do. So Accelerator, do not hold your hopes needlessly and hopelessly high. Focus on saving only Last Order's life. That is what matters most. That is the sole thing a novice like me cannot bring back. Am I wrong? If I am, then tell me right now what is more important than that girl's life."
He had to think something about the situation.
He had to think something about the fact that a child's life was being taken for the convenience of the adults.
And…
He perfectly understood his own position. It was because he understood that no amount of panicking or shouting would resolve anything that he would do everything he could to "fight" as a doctor.
"Kihara? Hound Dog? End those dull preliminary matches as quickly as possible. Hurry up and bring Last Order to me so that I can begin the final match."
After that, the frog-faced doctor told Accelerator where he would be hiding after temporarily abandoning his hospital. Accelerator was to head there after retrieving Last Order.
Accelerator put back the receiver.
He leaned his back against the glass door of the phone booth.
(I can no longer save Last Order unharmed. No matter well this goes for me from here on, she will certainly meet some harm. So that's how it is, is it?)
Accelerator sucked in a deep breath and then released it.
Hound Dog was using olfactory sensors. They would be using them to track both him and Last Order. She was already in a crisis situation, and that meant they would reach her even sooner.
He had no time to spare.
He had to prepare himself.
"Perfect…"
After he had accepted it all, all that remained was to smile.
The smile that split across his face was too frightening to be of this world.
"To save that brat, I'll kill anyone from the most benevolent saint to the most evil villain."
Hound Dog had olfactory sensors.
Kihara Amata and Hound Dog would soon find his location and attack.
His first task was to intercept them.
He needed a battlefield for that. He did not have time to stand around.