My first jab at a To Aru Majutsu no Index fic for Touma and Misaka. I know they probably aren't canon but I just can't get enough of them so deal with it :3

Disclaimer: I do not own To Aru Majutsu/Kagaku no Index/Railgun or whatever o^o

Electricity

Chapter 1

It had just been a normal evening in Academy City to start out with, but had soon turned completely troublesome and chaotic.

But then again, when was there ever an evening in that city that did not end up to be troublesome and chaotic?

Kamijou Touma was on his way to the market, prepared to go grocery shopping to get supplies for his and Index's dinner that night and pick up some cat food for Sphinx and well.

As he walked, he jostled his hand around in his pants pocket until he found his wallet and pulled it out, searching through the contents to count his cash. "At least I've managed to save up a halfway decent amount of money so that we can have a nice dinner for once."

But just as the words had left his mouth, he heard the excited voices of children and was too late to avoid them as they dashed past him. Bumping roughly into the level zero as they passed, shouting at one another, Touma's wallet flew from his hand and landed perfectly in the center of a puddle on the side of the street.

The boy's jaw hung loosely open for a moment before he clenched his fists and sighed before walking over to retrieve his sopping wallet. "What misfortune." He muttered, picking it up and shaking it off. But as he did so, credit cards and coins spilled out and bounced all over the sidewalk, rolling off in every direction. "Dammit!" Touma cursed, bending over to pick up his cards.

Several people passed him by, some murmuring sympathies and others laughing cruelly. Yet he noticed that not a single one offered to help him out.

Well. That's people for ya. He thought.

As he collected the remainder of his gift and credit cards, Touma sighed again and stuffed them back into his wallet. "Such misfortune." He repeated his daily catchphrase. But then, he realized that the pairs of legs around him had vanished altogether.

Confusion washed over him as he lifted his head and glanced around, but there was no longer a single person in sight. "What the-?" he mumbled, standing to his feet. "What is it now?" he asked the empty sidewalk.

Just then, as if in response to his query, he heard noises from up ahead. At first, it just sounded like the normal din of the city, but as Touma focused his hearing, he realized it was no ordinary din.

Before he could make a move, something within the alleyway closest to him exploded and a huge black cloud rose from the buildings. N…No wonder everyone ran away. He thought.

Touma was about to turn tail and look for assistance or authority, but he stopped himself when another explosion sent someone flying out from the alleyway and into the street.

Immediately, Touma recognized the light brown, shoulder-length hair of Tokiwadai's Ace, the refined young lady and one and only Railgun who had been experimented on relentlessly because of her hard-earned abilities. "Biribiri!" he exclaimed in surprise.

But the girl did not hear him. She quickly pushed herself to her feet, spitting out gravel as she did so. Her roommate and companion had teleported to her side in an instant.

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko appeared at her side within the blink of an eye, covered in small wounds from her own battle.

"Dammit!" Misaka cursed. "What is with these guys?"

"It's not that they're intelligent," Kuroko reported with narrowed eyes. "It's simply their brute strength." Neither of them had noticed Touma's presence, but he knew that he needed to help out. However, he knew better than to get involved with Judgment's affairs and get in their way. I bet they have some kind of strategy and can handle it themselves. But still…

It was then that Kuroko spotted him and straightened up. "All civilians are to evacuate the area immediately!" she snapped. "Get out of-" But before she could finish, a garbage can was flung from the shadows of the alley and collided with the small girl, sending her flying beck several yards.

"Kuroko!" Misaka shouted, but quickly turned to face her opponents, fuming. Four, largely-built, broad-shouldered men stepped out from amidst the dissipating smoke, snorting and snickering.

"What? Is this all that Judgment's got? A couple of little girls? How pathetic."

"For such big espers they sure are fast." Kuroko wheezed, staggering to her feet. Misaka was scanning the area for anything metal, but she stood in the center of the street and all the metal poles were too far away to reach. Her adversaries seemed to notice this as well and the leader of the group decided to taunt her about it.

"What's wrong, little girl? All outta tricks?"

"Not quite." The girl growled back. "Kuroko." She nodded to her companion.

"Right." Placing a hand on the Railgun's back, the long-haired girl transported them both back into the alleyway, behind the four rogue espers. Before they could turn around to face the girls, Misaka summoned up all the power she could conjure and sent an enormous blast of electricity crackling their way. During the confusion, one of the men was able to lift another garbage can and thrust it at them, but the girls dodged out of the way. Bottles and debris were sent flying in every direction and Misaka suddenly got an idea. Before she put it into action, she turned to her partner. "Kuroko, when is that backup getting here?"

"Ah they should be coming within a few moments from the west district."

"Perfect." Quickly, Misaka bent down and grabbed several bottles of water that had scattered across the ground and threw the contents out over the group of espers.

"What is that all you got now?" One of them snickered. "Resorted to throwing water on us now?"

"Don't you know…" Misaka pulled the electricity in the area around her and prepared to fire it like a canon. "That water and electricity don't mix well together?" With that, she sent another large wave towards them, the entire block lighting up with blue lightning. The four men could not avoid the attack and fell to their knees, shouting in agony. As fast as she could manage, Kuroko, teleported herself and Tokiwadai's ace back out from the alleyway and into the street again.

Touma was so busy marveling at the elegant use of power he had just seen that he jumped when he heard himself being yelled at once again.

"Hey!" Kuroko shouted. "Didn't I tell you to get out of here?"

This time, Misaka followed her gaze toward Touma and blinked in surprise. "What are you doing here?" she called. But before she could get a reply, a smirk broke out across her face as her eyes locked on the ground before him. "Excellent." She murmured.

Dashing forward much to the confusion of her Judgment companion, Misaka stopped before Touma and bent down, scooping up a handful of the coins that he had dropped earlier. "And I'd just ran out of them too." She smiled to herself.

"Biribiri!" Touma finally managed to open his mouth. "What's-?"

"Shut up and get out of here!" she snapped. "And don't call me that!" she shoved him back a pace or two before turning back to face her enemies, who were just beginning to recover from her last assault. Without giving them a second to gather their bearings, she tossed four of the coins into the air, took aim, and sent them all shooting forward consecutively like tiny meteors, all hitting their respective criminals with precise aim.

"What the hell are these kids?" the lead thug cried.

"Heh. Funny how his opinion of use changed so quickly." Misaka said smugly.

"Split up!" The leader shouted to his goons.

"Aw crap." Misaka grumbled.

Two of them ran back down the alleyway, easily destroying everything that blocked their paths as the other two headed off in the other direction.

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko called out. "Our backup is at the end of the alley."

"Okay. Then you go after those two." Misaka decided. "And I'll get the others."

"Unacceptable!" the younger girl cried. "You've already used up far too much of your powers and you're already hurt, Onee-sama!"

"So are you!" Misaka shot back. Then her eyes softened. "You do realize you're talking to Tokiwadai's ace and Railgun, don't you? I'll be fine." She reassured.

Kuroko grimaced at the thought of letting her beloved roommate go off and handle the thugs alone, but she shot a glare at Touma, as if to say 'if anything happens to her, I'm taking it out on you' before nodding once and teleporting herself to meet the two criminals along with the rest of her backup.

Misaka nodded once to herself before tearing off after the two espers that were getting away, completely forgetting the spiky haired boy behind her.

Everything had happened too quickly for him to keep up with, but now Touma finally forced himself to speak.

"O-Oy! Biribiri!" He called out. The girl came to a sharp halt before turning on her heel to face him.

"Why are you still here? Go home!" she yelled.

"After seeing all that?" he challenged. "How could I?"

"Just do it! You'll only get in the way!"

"But you're injured!" He shouted. He had not been able to get a good look at her before, but now that she was standing still directly before him, he could see the full damage from her fight. She was covered in scratches, and she walked with a small limp that looked like it hurt a lot more than she was letting on, explaining why she had had Kuroko teleport her so much.

"So what? This is nothing." She looked up and her eyes locked with his. Touma could tell that the fierceness he saw there was only half-hearted though. "I've got to finish this." She murmured before turning away and hurrying off.

"Like I'm gonna go home after all that." He reiterated with a sigh.

Touma took off after her at full speed, yet surprisingly, somehow he had already lost sight of her; she was not called Tokiwadai's ace for no reason, after all.

He only ran for about a minute until he saw the familiar blue lightning erupting from another nearby alleyway. People spread out, running from the area, but Touma pushed past them all and followed the light. He halted after turning a corner before quickly hiding behind the wall.

Several yards before him, Misaka was panting madly as she shot her electric waves at the two cornered espers. All three of them were injured, but the girl had obviously taken the most damage. There was already a fresh wound spreading blood over her torso and it was becoming harder and harder for her to breathe. I can't just charge in recklessly; that'll only get us both killed. Touma reasoned. I need to find the right time to interfere…

He peered back around the corner, preparing to jump in and help, but before he could move, the bigger of the two men stepped forward toward Misaka.

"You think strength is our only power?" he asked menacingly. As he took another step closer, Misaka stiffened as her breath hitched in her throat. "Well you're wrong. I can manipulate the oxygen levels wherever I please." The girl bit her lip, forcing herself to send out another wave of electricity forward, but her adversary dodged and she hit the man behind him; he dropped like a fly, yet the one before her was still standing.

He snickered as he closed his left hand, which Misaka guessed controlled the amount of oxygen in a certain spot. When he closed his fist, her theory was proven correct as all air was sucked from her lungs. She tried to gasp but it was like trying to breathe underwater where the pressure was enough to crush a person's skull.

She shakily raised her arm with the last amount of effort she could handle, one last coin resting on her fingers. But her hand trembled too much and the coin fell to the ground; Misaka followed shortly after, slumping onto the pavement.

Fuming, Touma burst out of his hiding place and charged at the esper, who was not expecting another opponent. Stretching out his right hand before him, Touma ran forward at full speed, yelling furiously toward the unsuspecting criminal. His hand cancelled the esper's ability like it was nothing and Touma easily landed a satisfying blow on the bewildered man. The blow sent him back a few steps, where he stumbled on his unconscious companion and fell backward, hitting his head against the brick wall of the alleyway and falling to the ground.

Touma glared down at them briefly before spinning back around and kneeling down beside the limp girl.

"Oy! Misaka!" he called urgently, but she was silent and remained still. He slid his left arm underneath her body and held her in his arms and he could automatically tell that she was not breathing. He bent down, pressing his ear beside her collarbones to listen for her heartbeat, but he could hear nothing at all. "Misaka!" he called out again, but her eyes remained closed and she did not budge.

Then, he realized something. Wait! Just because I cancelled the magic he was controlling in his hand doesn't mean I cancelled the magic that was already cast on her!

Quickly, Touma reached forward and placed his right hand on her chest. He felt the restrictive magic that had been placed there slowly begin to vanish and the pressure around her body faded away.

It seemed like an antagonizing eternity had passed before he felt the slow rhythm of her heartbeat beneath his palm. Seconds later her chest heaved and she gasped frantically for air and Touma sighed with relief. He waited for her to regain her breath and prepared himself for the outraged outburst she would give him, but when her eyes opened slowly, he was shocked to see, not annoyance in them, but pain.

"Why…Why did you follow me?" she rasped.

"That doesn't matter." He said sternly. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just…tired, that's all…" she lied. Her eyes closed shortly afterward and Touma felt alarm rise up inside of him once more.

"Oy, Misaka! What's wrong?"

Just then, his eye caught sight of the cuts bleeding all over her body, but he knew that those petty wounds were not what was ailing her. The crimson stains around her body had hardly been noticeable, considering she always seemed to be covered in them, and he had easily overlooked them before. B

ut now, he felt the warmth of something seeping onto his skin and carefully rolled her shirt up to reveal her stomach. Bandages covered her entire torso and he suspected that she must have been injured much earlier on in the battle before he had arrived. Fresh blood was staining the bandages and dripping from her skin at a steady pace; no wonder Kuroko had been so reluctant to let her go off on her own.

Cursing under his breath, Touma stood to his feet with the girl in his arms and began running. He could only run home, for it was closer than any medical facility. He knew he should try and bring her back to Judgment, but by the time he reached them she would already have bled out.

Right now, she was not Tokiwadai's ace, she was not one of the small handful of level 5s in the entire city, she was not the one and only Railgun; right now, she was merely and injured girl, and he was the only one who could save her.

A/N: Let me know what you think of chapter 1! Was everyone in character? Was it too quick?

Please review!