Episode 10 - Clone Dolly
As their car speeds towards the District 2 building she's been so determined to keep secret, Shokuhou wonders how Gensei Kihara could have learned about it. While she's weighing her options, the car comes to a stop, caught in a traffic jam. Gritting her teeth, Shokuhou pulls out a remote control, points it at the road ahead, and whispers a command to 'Exterior'. For several kilometres in front of them, the cars all move to either side like the Red Sea parting, allowing them to continue on. Slumping over in obvious pain, Shokuhou says she can't allow 'it' to fall into the wrong hands. With Mikoto watching her uneasily, Shokuhou thinks back to the past...
The young Misaki Shokuhou has her powers tested by a group of scientists. At her current level of development, she can alter people's sensory perceptions, but isn't yet able to manipulate memories. The scientists are enthusiastic about a project they call 'Exterior'.
After the day's tests, one of the scientists takes Shokuhou to meet someone. In a large playroom, a brown-haired girl of about the same age is sitting listlessly. The girl, who bears more than a little resemblance to a certain Level 5 electromaster, is introduced as the 'prototype', Dolly. She is possessively holding a large clear bottle of silvery liquid; when the scientist pulls the bottle away from her, the girl's surgical gown briefly falls open. She cries out and frantically covers herself, but not before Shokuhou sees something that disturbs her. The scientist explains that Dolly requires cybernetic implants in her chest to keep her alive. Once they're left alone, Dolly apologizes and says she used to have a friend, 'Mi-chan', who played with her all the time. One day, though, Mi-chan happened to see Dolly's implants... and after that, she never came to see her again.
The scientists tell Shokuhou that since Dolly's friend disappeared, her emotional state is hindering their ability to measure her medical data. They want Shokuhou to impersonate 'Mi-chan' by manipulating Dolly's perceptions. Somewhat reluctantly, Shokuhou does so, and it appears to work: Dolly, delighted to have her friend back, immediately becomes cheerful and energetic. She peppers Shokuhou with questions about life 'outside', and says she wishes she could visit the seaside. When Shokuhou makes a vague promise to take her there someday, Dolly hugs her... then pauses in apparent surprise and sniffs at her hair. When Shokuhou asks what she's doing, Dolly just smiles awkwardly and says it's nothing.
Shokuhou and Dolly play together regularly as the weeks go by. Then, one day, Dolly collapses in her playroom. As she's being taken away, she reaches out a hand weakly and asks Shokuhou what her name is. When Shokuhou tearfully tells her, Dolly says "thank you for being my friend". The scientists inform Shokuhou that Dolly's body has given out, and even Academy City can't extend her life any longer.
Some days later, Shokuhou sits listlessly in Dolly's empty playroom as one of the scientists comes and informs her that Dolly has died. In a meeting later, the scientists discuss how Shokuhou's grief over Dolly is causing her development to suffer. They debate whether or not to tell her that Dolly was 'just' a clone, but aren't sure if it would help. Turning to the Exterior project, one of them worries that Shokuhou might become a problem if she learns its true purpose, especially if her mental abilities continue to improve. The chief scientist brushes off the concern, saying that once Exterior is complete they can get rid of her if they have to. As the meeting ends, Shokuhou herself is revealed to have been sitting in, hiding her presence by mentally tampering with the scientists. She mutters that her suspicions have been confirmed...
In the present day, Shokuhou notes that she reprogrammed the memories of everyone involved with Exterior, and wonders how Gensei Kihara could know about it. At the same time, several commandos in stealth gear are watching the car, but they allow it to proceed unhindered.
Meanwhile, Touma Kamijou has successfully completed his scavenger hunt, thanks to Saten's good luck charm. He heads back to where he met her, but she is nowhere to be seen.
Arriving at their destination, Shokuhou and Mikoto find a hole cut in the building entrance. As they make their way inside, Shokuhou explains that it once belonged to a research institute called Clone Dolly, which specialized in high-level ability development. Their most secret project was a massive artificial brain created from Shokuhou's own cerebral tissue: Exterior. Ostensibly designed to boost Shokuhou's abilities, its true purpose was to allow anyone, esper or otherwise, to use Shokuhou's own Mental Out ability. When she learned this, Shokuhou shut the project down in order to keep such power out of the wrong hands. Mikoto asks if Gensei plans to use it for something, but Shokuhou says he can't do that unless he's registered to its neural interface. Then she gets a phone call from Keitz, who has fled up to the roof with Misaka 10032. He warns Shokuhou that she's likely being baited into a trap; she agrees and asks Mikoto to head up to the roof in her place.
In its tank, the giant Exterior brain suddenly activates, causing Shokuhou to clutch her head and fall to her knees. On the roof, Gensei Kihara calmly walks up behind Keitz, aims a remote-like device at him, and paralyzes him with a press of a button. Picking up Keitz's phone, Gensei tells Shokuhou he doesn't need to register with Exterior to gain access — all he has to do is synchronize his brainwave pattern with it. And it just so happens he knows all about modifying brainwave patterns — he was, after all, the one who taught Harumi Kiyama how to do the same thing with Level Upper. With Exterior at his command, it's a simple matter for him to remove the protections Shokuhou placed on the Misaka Network. So saying, he aims his remote at Misaka 10032 and activates it...
...and, in a hospital across the city, Last Order suddenly realizes the Misaka Network is now open to attack. Before she can do more than exclaim in dismay, Gensei plants a custom virus into the network with another click of the button... and, all over the world, Misaka Sisters suddenly fall unconscious.
At the abandoned liquid metal factory, Xochitl and Saten emerge outside. Before leaving, Saten asks Xochitl what Kouzaku's plan actually is. Xochitl says she doesn't know... except that, whatever it is, its true target is Mikoto Misaka. Touma, who is looking for Saten, comes along just in time to hear this.
On the roof of the Exterior building, weird tendrils of light are extending into the sky above Misaka 10032 as the virus spreads through the city's AIM fields. Mikoto bursts onto the roof and confronts Gensei, who gleefully says that this power can unlock Mikoto's true potential. Before she can make a move, the tendrils of light converge on her... and lightning explodes over Academy City.
Mikoto's eyes turn vacant as an eerie white glow surrounds her. Gensei says the experiment to see if Mikoto Misaka can reach the "divine will" of Level 6 has begun.
Tropes
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The Clone Dolly scientists don't exactly act warm and compassionate, but they maintain a loose pretense of caring about both Dolly and Shokuhou's welfare. In truth, they are total sociopaths who are exploiting them purely for their own gain. And, as will be revealed later, what we see in this episode isn't even the worst of what they do.
- Call-Back: Gensei Kihara mentions Kiyama and the Level Upper, revealing that he gave her the information she needed to create it.
- Continuity Nod: The driver notes that traffic is bad because the buses were shut down after one of them mysteriously exploded. This is likely a reference to the previous day's events from A Certain Magical Index, when Stiyl and Motoharu magically blew up a bus while chasing down Oriana Thomson.
- Flawed Prototype: Dolly evidently requires extensive cybernetic implants to keep her alive. This is a result of the still-imperfect cloning technology used to create her.
- Foreshadowing: Shokuhou starts to say something about what she could do in the "worst case scenario" but is interrupted before she can reveal what that is. She is presumably alluding to Exterior's self-destruct code.
- The Cameo: Last Order and Accelerator briefly appear at the climax, playing cards in their hospital room.
- The Nose Knows: Dolly apparently realizes Shokuhou isn't Mi-chan because she smells different. It seems Shokuhou was either unable to alter that particular sense, or else didn't think of it.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Dolly is sweet, innocent, childlike... and destined to die tragically after a short, painful life.
- Unreveal Angle:
- We never actually see the devices implanted in Dolly's chest which so disturb both Shokuhou and Mi-chan. note
- Played with in another instance: Dolly's flashback of 'Mi-chan' only shows part of her friend's face, but from the hair and eyes, it's pretty easy to recognize her as a younger Mitori Kouzaku. In any case, she's been appearing unobscured in the show's opening animation since the start of the season.
