The following is a non-profit, fan work based off the respective works of Kazuma Kamachi and Ryūtarō Nakamura

All rights belong to the original creators, J.C. Staff Co., Ltd.; and Triangle Staff

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

A Project: Life Spark Story...

The Serial Experiment

Layer I: Future Shock

In the early twenty-first century, a series of stories broke all around the world. Reports of children accomplishing fantastic feats. Telekinesis, telepathy, and other once thought physically impossible abilities began to be reliably recorded and scientifically analyzed. These were the first in what was eventually be dubbed Espers.

The few governments that were able to implement laws protecting Espers were still unable to stem the demand. It was a human gold rush. Many children were kidnapped and hauled away in the middle of the night by everyone from organized crime to sanctioned covert government agency. The United Nations was powerless to curb the growing humanitarian crisis.

A collation of university systems quickly organized an Underground Railroad to find and protect the children until an official response could be made. Many of those saved were taken to a little known weather research station built off the coast of Texas. Two years later a UN resolution was past after a veto from the Security Council was overruled by the General Assembly.

The resolution established the weather research station and the surrounding islands and water as UN property. The island with the research station was then expanded to an area about the size of Manhattan. It's purpose was to be a safe haven for Espers, where they could grow up and given a quality education free of persecution. The academic community was in turn able to research Espers under the watchful eyes of UN observers.

This formed the nucleus of what we now call Academy City. Fifteen years later city has grown and thanks to international support and a high concentration of top tier scientists into a global hub of innovation. Academy City is thought to be forty years ahead of any metropolitan area in the world. Despite the growth of the city, ninety percent of the city's population is made up of students. Almost three-fourths of those students have displayed potential to be or been confirmed as an Esper. This ratio has remained more or less constant since the founding.

It was crap. Total crap. I closed the word document and placed my head on my desk. Every year it was the same damn paper. Write the history of Academy City. It's important that you understand it.

Yeah, we get it. You've ingrained it into my head since I got here! I was going into high school next year for crying out loud. I knew the history backwards! What more was there to say?

My email beeped, bringing back to Earth. Weird for ten o'clock at night. Not so weird was the fact it was from Avri. I sighed and opened it up.

"Dear Ms. Mikoto Misaka (ACID# 299792-4-58)," I read aloud in the smarmy, condescending, faux-sweet tone Avri always used. "You've been noted for being two hours over your average log time. May we direct you towards some assistance?"

I shook my head and replied no. It would be a safe bet to say Academy City was almost like another world to an outsider. Here everyone was connected in a way the Internet could only dream of. Academy City was built around the Wired. I didn't know the exact differences but as I understand, the Wired was a much more complicated, much more powerful system.

My eyes started to feel heavy. Outside my apartment window the city bustled.

When I arrived in Academy City about seven years ago, the city part of the name was a joke. Half the districts were still under construction. None of the streets were finished. Most of the students lived in a barracks.

Now the place was alive. Large wind turbines intermixed with large office buildings. The streets were now the cleanest and most well maintained on the planted. Massive apartment complexes now dominated the skyline, housing nearly three million students that attended over forty-two thousand schools.

In a short amount of time, this place went from being the dump I was left at to the world leader in innovation and more importantly my home. Hell, I had lived in this apartment for nearly three years now. It was covered in a thick layer of lived in. All the nicks in the walls, oddly angled furniture, dated boy band posters, and tons random of pictures were the works of a home.

I got up and walked outside on the balcony. The streets were still pretty busy. It was Friday, so curfew was lifted. The night was still young and the electric sound of the street below rose up to me. My phone started to ring. Kuroko Shirai was calling me. She was my friend and roommate. We were both from Japan and had been sent to Academy City at an early age, Kuroko arriving a year after me.

"What's up Kuroko?" I greeted in Japanese. Crap!

"What's up Kuroko?" I asked again in English. I heard the roar of a crowd come through the speaker.

"Hey, Sissy! Where are you?" she yelled.

"In the room, why?" I answered.

"I thought you said you were meeting us at Cyberia!" Kuroko shouted. Oh, so that was the noise. "Come on Sissy, you promised!"

Damn it, she was right. How'd I forget? I was supposed to meet her and her friend from Judgment tonight.

"Right, I'll…I'll be there in a bit. Hang on," I said. I quickly hung up the phone and ran to my closet. Fashion was never my strong suit, not helped by the more utilitarian clothing that they offered in most of the city's shops. Sure there was a mall, but it had few stores open.

My wardrobe consisted of three sets my school's uniform and a few basic outfits for weekends. I threw one on, just a red skirt and a black and white striped t-shirt. Then I put on a jacket featuring my school's logo. It took a minute to get down stairs from the seventeenth floor.

The apartment was a multi-school hub. On any given day there were a dozen different uniforms to be seen in the lobby and rec rooms. I wanted to stay at my school's dorm, but I would have gotten off the waiting list this year and there was no guarantee of acceptance. Though I bet they'd have let me in.

I was content to stay with Shirai. She'd deny it, but I think she pulled some strings to room with me.

Out on the streets the city was pumping. Busses headed for other parts of the city or arriving here lined the streets. Groups of students walked about chatting amongst themselves. I headed south, towards Cyberia.

It was a club that had sprung up recently, and despite being popular it still had a small following. Kuroko had found it a few weeks ago and she had been going there almost every week since. I heard it was quite the place, playing the best underground music and serving the best food in the city.

I noticed a girl standing in an alleyway when I was about halfway to the club. She was mostly illuminated by the bright lights of the city, but she was also partially encased by pitch black dark alley right behind her.

Her light brown eyes stared vacantly into the street. She had short brown hair save for a long forelock that framed the left side of her face and was held together by an x-shaped clip. The girl wore a black school uniform I didn't recognize. She seemed to be in a daze.

"Are you alright?" I asked the girl. I brushed my hair back. The girl blinked. She started to breath heavily. She broke off, running back into the alley. I ran after her.

I found her after a few minutes, collapsed on her knees and trapped by a gang of older students. They were jeering and taunting her. Rage started to fester in the pit of my stomach. Sparks started to fill the air around me.

"Come on little girl; why don't you come with us," one of the girl's tormentors said. He had a British accent.

"Yeah we'll show you a good time," another added. That one had a Spanish accent, probably from Columbia if I was hearing him right.

I marched forward, calming the electric storm that was brewing around me. "Hey!" I shouted. The boys turned to me. One let out a sharp catcall whistle. Every one of their faces grew an ever expanding smirk. "Leave her alone," I growled.

"Aren't you a pretty thing? Tell you what: why don't you come with us and we'll leave this one alone," the leader offered. One of his goons put a hand in front of the leader.

"She's wearing a Glashow Middle School jacket, man. They don't take anyone less than a Level Three. Maybe we shouldn't mess with her," he whispered in a panic.

"What does that prove? It's just a jacket," the leader shrugged off.

The air around me began to pop with blue static bolts. My display seemed to intimidate some of the punks. But the leader took a step towards me. "So what'll it be, love?" he delivered his ultimatum. He held out his hand as if he were some country gentleman showing his breeding to a potential mate.

We were now within a couple meters. Perfect. I reached out my own hand in a faux gesture of acceptance.

When you go through the elementary school system in Academy City you are taught that an Esper was just a person with a certain special ability. It wasn't until middle school that you begin to under stand the nuts and bolts of what an Esper really was. See in fact, an Esper was nothing more than a person who could manipulate a law of physic in a particular manner. For example, someone with pyrokinesis isn't simply creating fire: they are heating up a group of oxygen molecules in a particular area and can "move" the fire by shifting their focus from one place to another; creating the illusion of controlling fire. A Telekinetic was merely adding a new force to the forces already acting on an object and a teleporter merely changed the location of select matter in space-time.

A smirk formed on my face. My fingers began to tingle. The alley lit up in white light. Volt upon volt of electricity appeared to pour out of my digits. I was an Electromaster, capable of manipulating, changing, and creating electrical charges around my body. This was a basic example of my skills. Simply create a few positive charges at the tip of my fingers and an equal number of negative charges on his hand. Set the right voltage, and wham: one fried creep served up toasty.

The punk started to twitch underneath my onslaught and I released him from my electric grip. He fell to his hands and knees. His friends had already run away. "I head—I heard there was an Electromaster at Glashow, a Level Five said to be one of the greatest to ever go through Academy City. You're her aren't you?" he croaked out.

I nodded. His eyes widened. He unceremoniously got up and limped off. I walked over to the girl who was still blankly cowering by an incomplete brick wall. "Are you alright?" I asked as I knelt beside her.

She recoiled at my attempt to touch her. I bit my lip. "I'm just trying to help. My name is Mikoto Misaka, what's yours?" I asked.

The girl perked up. "Mik-Mikoto Misaka?" She stammered.

"Yes, that's me. What's your name?"

"My name? My name is…my name is..." the girl started repeating in a quiet voice. I gave a reassuring nod. This wasn't good.

"Do you have any personal ID or a cellphone?" I asked. That should clear things up. The girl checked her pockets and shook her head.

Not good, not good. "Okay. Where do you live?" I asked trying to stay calm.

"I…I don't know," the girl whispered. She grabbed her forehead and started rocking back and forth. "I don't know."

"Do you have any friends? A place to stay?"

Her nails stared digging into her skin. "I don't…remember. I don't remember anything except," she said. Her brown eyes were widened. I gently grabbed her hands and brought them down. "Except. Except."

"My name is Lain," she said. A rush of energy fell over me. A sparks rushed through my core, like something was awakening deep inside.

"Let's go back to my apartment and we'll get this sorted out, okay Lain?" I said. I helped Lain get to her feet. She nodded.

I helped her back to my apartment. Lain sat down on the couch. She nervously started to look around. I brought up a school directory on the Wired from my laptop. It might take a while but there had to be a record of her somewhere.

The door banged open sending Lain up to the ceiling for a moment. Kuroko stormed in with her wavy, tawny ponytails furiously bouncing at the sides of her head. Her feet pounded the floor as hard as her heels allowed her. "How could you stand me up like that Sissy!" she shouted. Her eyes locked in on Lain. "And you left me there for her!"

Oh god, I thought she was over that stupid crush thing. Now she was becoming plain possessive. Great.

Lain started to tremble. I stood up. "I'm sorry Kuroko. Truly I am. But this girl needed help. As an Judgment officer you should understand helping someone," I calmly started and finished with a growl. Kuroko frowned. Her gaze drifted away from me to her feet.

"I—I'm sorry. I just wanted you to meet my friends and have a good time," she said. She looked over at my laptop. Her eyes sparked. "Wait, I think I'll be able to help you!"

Kuroko pulled out her cellphone. "Uiharu, we have a mission!" she shouted. "Yes I know the time, but it's for Sissy. Meet at the office tomorrow at ten o'clock sharp. Yeah, go ahead and bring Saten too. Good night," She said and hung up the phone

"Thanks Kuroko," I said. I gave her a thumbs-up. Kuroko went over to Lain and offered her hand.

"Sorry about that. Sometimes I can't control it. I'm Kuroko Shirai," she said. Lain nervously took her hand.

"I'm…uh, Lain," the other girl said. Kuroko vanished as their hands touch! A thud sounded near the front door. Kuroko was lying face down on the floor. I rushed over to her.

"What happen?" I asked. Kuroko struggled to her feet. She was breathing heavily.

"I don't…did I? Oh, never mind, we should get going," she said. "We should get something for Lain to sleep in."

That night Lain slept on the couch. Kuroko knocked on my door before she entered it.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Did you feel something strange, when you talked to Lain?" Kuroko asked. I scratched my cheek. I remembered that jolt when I touched her.

"Yeah, I guess so. Did you really teleport yourself across the room today?"

Kuroko bit her lip. "I don't know. I just hope we figure out where she belongs soon."

She walked away to go to bed. I joined her in the land of dream shortly afterwards.

We made it down to Kuroko's office the next morning. Lain was back in her school uniform, in case someone on the streets recognized her.

Waiting at the office was a girl with short black hair and a beautiful array of flowers in her hair dressed in street clothes. She was hard at work on a computer. Napping on a couch was another girl with long black hair. They both looked Japanese.

I wasn't surprised. Most of us gravitated towards people from the same country of origin. We could speak the same language, had similar customs, and so on. Though in such a natural melting pot, it was hard not to feel like we were losing touch with our old homes. Kuroko could barely hold a conversation in Japanese anymore.

I couldn't remember the last time Kuroko used Japanese seeing as English was the lingua franca in Academy City. Hell, I doubt I could read it any more.

The girl with the flowers on her head stood up and ran up to me. "You're…you're Mikoto Misaka!" she squealed with joy. Her English sounded flawless. She most have been brought here pretty young.

"Ye…yeah," I answered.

"It's such an honor to wait! Oh where are my manners? I'm Kazari Uiharu!" the girl rapidly added.

Uiharu had quite a bit of energy for someone who was out partying all last night. "It's alright. I'm pleased to meet you Uiharu," I greeted. She looked over at her companion and ran over to her. She not so gently woke her up. Uiharu brought her to her feet.

The new girl rubbed her eyes. "Ruiko Saten," she greeted. I nodded and offered my hand. Saten didn't seem too pleased but took it anyway, with a sort of snide smile.

"And just so you know I'm a Level Zero," Saten added for no reason. Okay.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Mikoto Misaka," I nonchalantly introduced myself with a pleasant smile. Saten seemed confused as we shook hands.

"Um…yeah," Saten said. Uiharu turned to Kuroko.

"So what's up?" she asked.

Kuroko gingerly pushed Lain forward. "This is Lain. She's kind of lost. We were hoping you could help us find where she belongs," she said. Lain blinked, then sat down with Saten back on the couch.

"Okay, let's see," Uiharu said she returned to her computer. "Lain…Lain, do you have a last name?" she asked. Lain shook her head. Uiharu frowned as she continued typing.

"Okay, we'll use the uniform database first. Searching by first name would take hours," Uiharu explained. "We have a hit!" she declared after another minute of searching. I walked over and looked at the results.

"St. Germaine's All Girls Middle School in District Eight?" I read aloud. The uniform model was a perfect match to Lain's. The black jacket, the plaid skirt, and the badge all added up. "Is Lain a student there?"

"I haven't done a student search yet. Germaine's files aren't available for public access, but I just need to enter my Judgment clearance code and that so it should…what?" Uiharu gasped. A pop up window appeared. "An Avri just denied my access!"

"Which one?" Kuroko asked. Uiharu shrugged.

"I'm trying to do a root search to find it, but I just keep getting bounced to servers all around the city!" she shouted. Her fingers were patiently waiting to make her next move. Her eyes twitched over each and every line as report after report popped up.

"Should we call Root?" I asked. Uiharu shook her head.

"No, what ever Avri is doing this has basically back hacked us and is making it look like we're attempting an attack on the whole system."

I swallowed a lump in my throat. Well crap. "Shut it off then, I don't want us to get in trouble," I said. Uiharu quickly disconnected and turned to Lain.

"I'm sorry, but it looks someone doesn't want us to access those files," she said.

"Maybe we should go by there? See what they know?" Saten recommended.

"Yeah! We can meet up here and make a day of it," I added. "We can go to this new stand opening on 32nd Street! They have hotdogs and they're giving away a free, uh," I stopped myself from finishing that statement. "Mustard, free mustard!" I added.

Saten cocked her head. "Don't hotdog stands always give out free mustard?" she asked. Kuroko snapped her fingers.

"You just want that free promotional Gekota charm don't you Sissy?" Kuroko pointed out. I hung my head. They were so cute and green and would be perfect for my collection. Alas, they knew my shame. Let them ridicule me until I am but a corpse strewn upon the battlefield of life.

Saten laughed a bit. "Sure, let's go," she said. Saten you are a saint amongst mortals.

Lain nervously clutched her hands together as the five of us. "So Lain, what do you like?" Saten asked. Lain shook her head. "You are a quiet one aren't you?"

Lain nodded. Saten put a hand on her shoulder. "Do you have an Esper Power?" Saten continued. Damn, maybe if we had asked that we could have found her in another database. Lain shook her head. "It's okay. Us Level Zeroes should stick together."

We found the hot dog stand. It was built in a small park that was pretty busy. Uiharu and Kuroko went off to get seats while Saten, Lain, and I got the hotdogs. I kept Lain in front of me. She might need some coaching to get through this.

Lain was up. Here we go. She raised a single finger. The man at the stand understood. He brought out the hotdog and placed it in a bun. "Mustard? Ketchup?" he asked. Lain shook her head and placed the money I gave her on the counter. She took the food along with the adorable frog mascot that was…Gekota.

"Last one kid, way to go," the man commented. I felt my heart give out. My knees completely collapse underneath. I barely kept myself up with my arms.

Lain turned around and blinked. She bowed down and handed me the Gekota. "Here," she said. I looked up at Lain. Though her face was still expressionless, there was this certain warmth to it. I grabbed her arm.

"Do you mean it?" I pleaded. Lain just nodded. I grabbed it and stared at all its plastic glory. "Thank you Lain. Thank you! Thank you!" I squealed.

"I guess Misaka likes the Gekotas," Saten commented.

"I guess," Lain quietly replied.

Once lunch was through we made it down to District Eight. It was the smallest district in the city, consisting of twenty blocks along Seventh Street in the southwest of the town. There all six of the private religious schools could be found along with a few churches and a mosque too. Most of us referred to the area as Church Street.

The schools on Church Street required a parent's permission to attend versus just advisor approval and test scores that the other institutions required. That plus ridiculously high standards made them extremely hard for students to get in.

St. Germaine's was about halfway down the street. Hopefully we'd get some answers. Who was the girl with asymmetrical hair who called herself Lain?

I kept asking myself that as we approached the dark, gothic architecture that made up the administration building of St. Germaine's All Girls Middle School. Fierce stone gargoyles stared down at us from their perches. This could only go well.

To Be Continued...

A/N: Hello to what I can assume is going to be a small number of readers. I don't know, I can't see the future. Side note, Avri is pronounced like the name Avery.

Normally I state the objective and themes of a project here, so why break tradition. Okay one word: identity. Specifically what makes us...us. Not in the Ghost in the Shell way where it's all existential and in your mind. More of the actual stuff of identity like origin, environment, people, and possessions.

If you didn't pick it up at the start of the story, I nuked the cannon. I nuked it good. That is probably a poor choice of word considering I am working off of two anime shows. Sorry if I offended you, but I couldn't think of a quicker visual shorthand for mass destruction.

It's not that I don't like the cannon of the original works, I just like to re-imagine them in someway.

So I love Serial Experiment Lain. *checks profile picture* duh. If you're worried about the melodrama, you shouldn't because Lain's here and it can only get stranger. But due to my aversion to spoilers, I won't post my thought on the show here out of consideration for anyone who hasn't seen the awesomeness of Lain yet. Don't know why, that's just how I am. But if you want to hear my opinion on SEL just ask for it in a review or in a PM and I'd gladly share my interpretation.

Can I just say this about A Certain Scientific Railgun, it gets flipping weird near the end apparently. I enjoyed the anime though. It was good show, that is all.

Well that takes care of that. Have a comment or an idea you think I should explore, leave a review and tell me what you think!

Until next time, it turns out that Vader is Harry's father and left him under the protection of Gandalf in the Matrix {Somebody make that happen, now}