Antikythera

Antikythera (アンティキティラ) is a company, introduced in the First Year Arc of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, which was active in Academy City one year before the main story.

Etymology
The company's name is derived from the, an Ancient Greek hand-powered , described as the oldest example of an analogue computer. The image of the machine namesake is used as the company's logo.

Principles
Antikythera seeks to produce a scientific reproduction of #2 Level 5 Kakine Teitoku's Dark Matter, referred to as Attachment Dark Matter. The company has a biological specimen from Kakine in their possession, however its quality is nowhere near that of the current Kakine. In order to overcome this fundamental roadblock, given that they could not capture the real thing, Antikythera decided to analyze as many esper powers as possible from multiple angles.

Although the two companies are officially unconnected, Montgolfier conducts work for Antikythera, receiving funding and downgraded data in exchange for test results from the prototypes that Montgolfier manufactured from the data Antikythera provided, which Montgolfier supposedly obtained from attacks on students at Tokiwadai and instigating an inter-clique conflict. Antikythera concealed its involvement, using Mitarai Ayane's esper power for encrypted communications between the two companies, prepared to abandon Montgolfier if necessary. However, at least one Antikythera higher-up had been manipulated by Sha Danshan, the true mastermind behind the conflict, using a reproduction of Mental Out, to act as her own scapegoat.

Many of the company's guards and combatants are equipped with Attachment Dark Matter weapons, suits and masks, just like Montgolfier who had developed the prototypes from Antikythera's data. Besides their headquarters, the company had at least one additional building and a four-wheeled escape vehicle at their disposal.

Background
Antikythera was founded 14 years prior to the main story. Its current number of employees is 2723, the Representative Director is W. G. Waitley, and the company's industry is Femto Reactor R&D.

At some point in the past, Antikythera acquired a biological specimen from the #2 Level 5, Kakine Teitoku, and sought to scientifically reproduce his Dark Matter, but ran into a fundamental roadblock. Given that the quality of the specimen did not compare to the current Kakine and capturing him was not possible, Antikythera decided to analyze numerous other esper powers from multiple angles to make progress towards their goal. To that end, they secretly provided funding and downgraded data to Montgolfier in exchange for test results from the prototypes they manufactured from that data, concealing their own involvement.

First Year Arc
When Montgolfier's apparent role in instigating the inter-clique conflict at Tokiwadai Middle School was discovered and they fought back, as instructed, when the Hasekura clique came to investigate them, Antikythera gathered observational data over their encrypted communication line while preparing to abandon Montgolfier. They continued gathering data as the Mikagami and Sha cliques joined the battle, sending false intel to the Montgolfier operatives to keep them from surrendering and prolonging the battle to maximize the data gain. Despite belief that it wouldn't be tracked back to them, even by the two Level 5s, their ultrasonic communications were detected by Hasekura Reiri.

Shortly afterwards, as the supervising higher-up was excited at the continued data acquisition, Hasekura cut her way into the building, to his surprise. As she came alone, he intended to have her eliminated so no one would know about them, thinking that their forces could defeat what he saw as a talented yet arrogant girl. However, Hasekura soon took out Mitarai and was able to overwhelm the combatants utilizing the Attachment Dark Matter prototypes, even when the heavier units were brought in, infuriating him along the way.

On the verge of defeat, a guard reported that another Tokiwadai student had been found sneaking in and the man ordered that she be brought in as a hostage, only for it to turn out to be Misaka Mikoto. While the two briefly conversed before Mikoto shocked the oblivious guards, the higher-up and his subordinates managed to slip away, leaving the unconscious Mitarai behind. Escaping in a vehicle, they intended to head for the second building and retrieve their research data. Arriving to find the security there absent, the higher-up realized that his memories were muddled as the manipulation from a Mental Out reproduction wore off. The culprit, Sha Danshan, who had used her ability to reproduce Shokuhou's power from one of her remotes, then appeared and disposed of the Antikythera personnel, her own scapegoats.