A Certain Scientific Clone (Toaru/Raildex Misaka Sister SI)

[ElectromagneticRhapsody]

Chapter 1

When I woke up, the one thing I thought I knew for sure was that I was dead.

I didn't remember how, or what had killed me, or even the day of my death overall. But for some reason, I was certain: I had died.

At the time, if someone had asked me how I would describe death, I would describe it like this: feeling like you're floating deep in the ocean, with no need to breathe and your eyes fully closed. You couldn't feel anything else except your thoughts. Essentially, it was like a sensory deprivation tank, but worse, because you would know you couldn't exit it at any time you pleased.

Then the fluid started to drain away. I don't really remember what I was thinking at the time to be totally honest, but it was probably something along the lines of 'Oh god what the hell is happening.'

Yeah, I'm not the most eloquent person.

Still, I couldn't really stop myself from worrying. What was going to happen after this fluid drained away? Would I face a judge of the dead or something? 'God, I hoped they won't judge me too badly.'

Finally the fluid drained, and I heard a hissing sound. I could feel light on the back of my eyelids. My body felt different and weird, but not wrong - just different.

I felt myself fall forward, and a hand caught me, holding me by an arm; steadying myself, I stood up. I heard a noise.

It sounded like someone speaking a foreign language - no, it was someone speaking a foreign language; Japanese, as a matter of fact. The voice was soft, bright, and feminine. Unfortunately, I hadn't brushed up on my Japanese for a while, so I couldn't exactly understand whatever the person whose voice it was was saying very well. I did hear something of a questioning tone in their voice though.

An older, but no less bright, feminine voice responded in the same language. This voice was filled with desperate excitement. I caught a few words, however, that made me freeze.

'Misaka.' 'Reberu 5.' 'Turi Daiaguramu.'

Dreading what I was about to see, I opened my eyes. For a second the brightness was almost blinding, but I managed to adjust.

Standing in front of me were two scientists dressed in lab coats wearing glasses, one younger and one older. We were in a futuristic laboratory.

From the corner of my eye, I could see brown hair cascading down my head. I turned around.

Staring at me was a tube from the series 'A Certain Scientific Railgun.' A tube which I knew clones of Mikoto Misaka, the series' protagonist, would be produced in.

I had come out of that tube.

That meant that I was… I was now a clone. Of Mikoto Misaka.

I'm honestly not too surprised that I fainted right then and there.

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When I slowly came to, I felt weird. My former wakefulness, my certainty of my death and my finding out that I was now a clone of a fictional character felt fuzzy and unreal - like a dream. With no memory of my death or the day of it, my brain reached the logical conclusion of it being a dream.

"That was an odd dream," I murmured to myself. For some reason though, my voice sounded different - my words, too. I chalked it up to tiredness, though.

I yawned, stretching my oddly thin arms out. My eyes opened, then squinted shut. The light on the roof was blindingly bright-

Wait a minute. There is no light on my roof.

My eyes were wide open now. I sat up, instantly seeing the sanitary white of the wall in front of me. "This isn't my room-"

I slapped my hand over my mouth in shock, not from just one but two things.

First, my voice was very much different.

Second, I was speaking in Japanese.

I looked down at my body. It looked like I was dressed in some sort of white hospital gown or something - just great.

Then, hearing a door swing open, I turned my head to face it. One of the scientists from before, an older woman with a hairstyle I didn't know the name of, walked in, a smile on her face, her shoes clacking on the floor over the light buzzing.

"So the clone is awake," she said, a slight smile on her face. She crossed her arms, her eyes tracing up and down my body.. "Amazing... imagine, a newborn clone having such a developed brain. It must be one of those anomalies that you hear of occasionally. We even needed to use a modified Testament program for her - she already has emotions and knowledge of the world to a certain extent. What a remarkable specimen..."

I felt a pit settle into the depths of my stomach, and reality felt like it was unraveling. I could hear the dull buzzing from the light in the silence. This woman didn't see me as a human. She saw me as a thing - a tool, only to dispose of when necessary.

"Ah, but anyway," the woman said, actually looking at me, with a stare that showed the full disregard of one who thought of clones like that, "do you know your name?"

I blinked. "My… my name?" I asked, the surreality of this situation compounded by my voice. I flinched at its difference, and put a hand on the bed to steady myself as I stared up at her.

"I'll take that as a no," the scientist said, a slight frown on her face. "Shoddy programming... The Testament program was supposed to supply her with that," she muttered, and started pacing back and forth, walking in front of me and turning around every third step or so. "Although your serial number is 9984, you have been designated as Misaka BEST." She walked off towards a table in the corner of the room that I couldn't see the top of, touching something, then turned around and started to walk back. "This is because according to the Board of Directors, you are the best case scenario when it comes to Project Radio Noise." She stopped, once again dead center in front of me. All signs of her frustration gone, she smiled. "That is to say, a clone with the potential to become a Level 5 Esper."

A cold feeling settled in my gut. I could feel my breath start to quicken.

"As such, you will not be a part of the Level Six Shift project - unfortunate as that is." She muttered the last part, her eyes narrowing and her teeth clenching, although barely visibly. The tension was gone an instant later; so quickly I thought I'd imagined it, in fact, and once again a smile was plastered on her face. "Instead, we will be creating one additional clone to take part in it. The modified Testament program that prodigy made should have given you knowledge about said experiment. Hopefully it succeeded in that, at least?"

I nodded, putting my other hand on the bed now. The world was spinning.

"Good. At least that part wasn't a failure." She snorted. "Unlike the other subjects of Project Radio Noise, you are to be enrolled in a public school and put through the Power Curriculum Program. As of now, you're a Level 3, but as the Board of Directors have said that you have the ability to become a Level 5, they have decided that this is the best course of action - even though one's level can be increased in laboratory conditions regardless." There was a note of bitterness in her voice, then she shook her head. "Regardless, it's not up to me what to do with you, so you'll be enrolled in a school and your ability's level will be increased that way. Is that understood, Misaka BEST?"

"Yeah," I said, my voice hollow, shoulders slumping and eyes downcast.

I heard her gasp. "Ah, a clone with true emotions… how truly magnificent," she breathed.

I couldn't stop myself from shuddering. This woman… I didn't like her, not one bit. Although, one thing stood out to me, from both my memories and a weird feeling of… knowledge.

I took a few deep breaths, putting my hands on my legs, and looked her in the eyes. "Y-you said that I have the potential to become a level 5 if I'm to go through the Power Curriculum Program, right?" I asked.

The scientist blinked, then held her head in her hand. "A question, already? She's much more advanced than even I anticipated-" Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and crossed her arms, then looked me in the eye. "Ahem, excuse me. As I was going to say, that's correct."

"How can I do that if I'm going to die in a few years?"

The scientist perked up. "Ah, we're going to take steps to remedy that, of course," she said, adjusting her glasses with her right hand. "In fact, we asked our superiors if they knew someone who could deal with that, and they informed us of a certain doctor who could."

A breath I didn't even know I'd been holding released. "Okay," I said. I wasn't going to die.

I was going to live.

But was living a life of servitude to Academy City's Dark Side any better?

I shook my head. That wasn't important right now. What was more important was my appearance.

"You mentioned how I was going to be put into a public school, right?"

The woman nodded. "Yes?" she said.

"Then how am I going to be differentiated from Misaka- I mean, the Railgun?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking me? That's not my issue," she said.

"...oh."

"I'm sure the person who takes you to that doctor will be able to figure out some sort of disguise for you." She shrugged her shoulders, her arms still crossed.. "Regardless, it's none of my business."

"...Okay." I was surprised at that answer, even though I really shouldn't have been.

"Now, before you're to be picked up, we'll have to complete the standard operating procedure - or at the very least, a shortened version," she said. Turning to face the door, she shouted "You can come in now!"

"Finally!" I heard the more childish voice from earlier call out, as a shorter scientist stepped into the room. "It's been too long, and I wanted to meet her!"

"Hmph," the taller one said with a snort, pushing her glasses up her nose. "At least those childish actions from the last one have prepared you for a clone who's actually worth treating as more than just a guinea pig."

A clone who's worth treating as more than just a guinea pig.

I felt the world fall away.

"Ahh, it's fine though, right? Even if they're just guinea pigs, we might as well help them with some stuff!"

They thought of clones as guinea pigs. The Misaka sisters.

"Fine. Now then, cut her hair, will you? We don't exactly want the most successful clone in the history of Project Radio Noise to have long hair."

The people who were now my sisters.

"Sure, sure. Now then, BEST, just sit still while I do your hair."

I felt something which I vaguely recognized as the type of cloak you wore whilst having a haircut be wrapped around me, the words plastered on it

The Sister clones - who would mostly be my younger sisters, both in physical and mental age - were basically slaves for Academy City as of right now.

I winced as some hair fell on my neck around the haircut cloak (was that what they were called?) one of the scientists had put around my neck, trying to ignore the snipping sounds as the younger scientist cut my hair like I was some sort of doll.

It was easy to forget how screwed up this world was, but when a scientist basically says that 20 thousand people are essentially slaves, doing nothing but dying for the sake of a stupid science experiment, well… that sort of thing sticks with you.

Lost in my thoughts as I was, I started when I heard the younger scientist, who had been chattering away like it was nobody's business, chirp "All done!"

I blinked. Looking down at myself, I could see she was right. There was hair strewn out all around me on the bed I was sitting on, and I felt a clip being slid into my hair.

"What do you think?" A mirror was shoved in front of my face unceremoniously.

I stared.

I looked… well, I looked like an above-average-looking Japanese teenage girl. Not beautiful, but not average either. To be honest, if I were thinking straight at the time, I would have admitted that I even looked kind of cute.

I also looked eerily like how I'd imagine Mikoto Misaka to look, were she to exist in real life.

Had someone asked me how I'd feel if this happened to me before all of this, I would have probably answered that I'd be kind of happy. But now?

I was scared.

The dull buzz of the electric light was interrupted by a beeping. Turning to face the source, I saw the older scientist take a flip phone out of her pocket and flip it open. A scowl grew on her face. "Stop dilly-dallying," she said. "Her ride is here."

"Aww, you're no fun." The younger woman pouted.

Shaking her head, the older scientist turned to face me. "Now then," she said. "First, we'll need to get you dressed. You'll find clothes on that table over there." She pointed them out; they were on the table I had seen earlier. "Put them on, then you can leave and be out of our hair."

I stood up, unsteady on my feet for a few seconds, before righting myself, trying to ignore the implications of what that woman had said. Walking over to the desk in the corner, I looked at the items of clothing she'd mentioned.

A luminescent blush appeared on my face.

"Um, uh… do you mind looking away while I change?" I asked the two women who were staring at me expectantly without looking over at them, trying to hide my embarrassment.

"...I don't see why we can't," the older woman said. I heard her feet and the younger one's feet shuffle around.

Sighing in relief, I pulled off the white hospital gown-type clothing and hurriedly moved to put on the underwear that had been provided - the bra was thankfully a sports bra which fit fairly well, and the other underwear was… well, kind of embarrassing. I did it as fast as I could comfortably.

Once the underwear was on and it didn't feel like I was perving on an underage girl's naked body, I looked down at myself.

I looked fit. Fitter than I'd been in years in my last life.

Where I was now dead.

I winced. Probably best to not think about that for now.

Instead, I looked back at the clothes on the table, the familiar logo making the clothes glaringly obvious as to what they were.

Hesitantly, I picked them up, first putting on the dress shirt, then the skirt (short as it was, which was honestly too short) then finally the vest. For the finishing touch, I picked up the pair of shoes and socks that had been left with the clothes, kneeled down to the carpeted ground, and pulled them on, making sure to tie each one carefully before standing up.

If I was to look into a mirror around then, I was sure I could be confused for Mikoto Misaka herself, thanks to the Tokiwadai uniform that I was now wearing.

I turned back to the women, my blush less pronounced but still visible. "Alright, I'm done," I said.

The older scientist turned around, looking at me. She held a hand to her chin. "Hmm…" Her eyes traced up and down my body, before she smiled. "Perfect. Now then, follow me." She turned towards the door and started walking, the younger scientist following after her. She twisted the doorknob.

I blinked. "W-wait a second!" I hurried through the room, the alien feeling of wearing these clothes not distracting me too badly.

She looked back at me, a frown on her face as she opened the door and exited, the shorter scientist right behind her.

I followed her just barely after.

These were the first steps into my new life.

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AN:
So I decided to crosspost this to here (it's already on SB and SV), if only for further coverage. Hopefully, you all enjoy it!