It begins with bad jokes.

They're sent to Mikoto via text messages that she suspects are magical in nature, seeing that every one of them is preceded by a slight electromagnetic pulse that has no effect on any electronics nearby. They are, somehow, Thor-flavored to Mikoto's electromaster senses. She didn't even know electromagnetic pulses could have any sort of signature, and she finds this electric anomaly slightly irritating...because she hadn't known about it before.

[Why are electricians always up to date?]

For the very first one, she thinks it's an actual, if nonsensical, question. Her head is spinning as she stares at the little black Japanese characters on her phone's screen. The little electric pulse that had preceded the message [tastes] like Thor - like the weird, deep, cold electricity she had felt radiating off the boy in black-and-yellow when she'd run across him. Touma's safety had overridden all other considerations then, but she'd never been able to entirely forget Thor, fleeting though their meeting had been.

Everyone had bioelectricity, but she'd never met anyone who had his own strange...flavor? It wasn't quite that, but it was closer than any other description. Thor was unforgettable, yanking on her electromaster senses in a way no one ever had before, not even Touma and his soothing, infuriating, miracle-making Imagine Breaker, not even the Sisters and their just-like-hers-only-not electro-esper powers.

She had wondered if Thor could taste her electricity too.

Before she can even think about the question he had sent, her phone beeps again, a burst of cold electromagnetism brushes her senses, and Thor has sent the punchline.

[Because they are "Current specialists".] The words "current specialists" are in English.

Mikoto goggles for a moment.

{Thor, I know it's you,} she sends back, in English as fluent as the other's Japanese.

[ ( ＾∇＾) ] is the reply.

[Why do fluorescent lights hum?]

{You're an idiot.}

[Because they can't remember the words.]

{How did you even get my number?!}

[A photon checks into a hotel. The bellhop says, "Do you have any luggage?" The photon replies: "Nope, I'm traveling light.]

Maybe it's because they had just been studying physics, but Mikoto actually smiles a little at that one.

[We're badass,] Thor announces, out of nowhere.

{Yes?} Misaka sends. She hadn't heard from her...penpal? ...in weeks. She had found herself checking her phone compulsively. At the now-familiar coolness brushing across her senses, she had rushed for her green Gekota-phone, grabbing it before the message-tone had sounded, almost fumbling it in her eagerness. She didn't notice, but a wide grin had stamped itself across her features.

[Lightning doesn't strike us. We strike lightning!]

We strike lightning!

The words resound in Mikoto's mind like echoes of thunder.

[A friend who's in liquor production,
Has a still of astounding construction,
The alcohol boils,
Through old magnet coils,
He says that it's proof by induction.]

{That's actually pretty clever,} Mikoto sends, laughing quietly as she does. Proof by induction...she'll have to remember that one.

[Why did the lights go out?]

{how did you even find out about that it wasnt my fault they really should upgrade the electrical grid here} is Mikoto's off-the-cuff reply, sharp-quick in its surprised honesty. How had Thor found out about her fight...?

[Because they liked each other!] comes the punchline, just a second or two late.

{Can you just forget about the previous message}

[No way. It sounds interesting. Tell me about it.]

She's in England, helping Touma and his pint-sized roommate out with something involving fire, runes, a chainsmoker who insists he's the same age as her. There had been fights, there had been a large multinational corporation she'd had to hack into (it had been rather fun, actually), and there had been Touma stumbling headfirst into three separate women's chests and them trying to kill and/or join his cause. Mikoto is exhausted.

She turns to her phone for something a little less exhausting, a little more fun.

{What do you call a month of rain?} she sends to Thor.

[What?] comes the reply, almost immediately, and she smiles softly at the quickness of it.

{England,} she sends, and her mind is full of the gray-misty dampness of these western islands as she sends the text message.

Thor sends back a barrage of laughing emoticons.

Slowly, gradually, their text-based conversations broaden in depth and range. They tell each other about their days, they discuss pop culture (Mikoto surprised about how well-versed he is in that, finding him a great bridge to the music and games and movies dominating the world outside Academy City), and they talk about electricity, and lightning, and storms.

There's a subtle and unspoken agreement not to talk about or refer to their respective 'sides' - and she can tell, already, that he doesn't seem ideologically bound to Magic, the same as she does not consider herself owned by Academy City.

She would defend it, of course - it's her home - but she doesn't feel bound to it. She is herself, not a member of Judgment or of Science or any such organization. She doesn't even really consider herself a member of the 'Kamijou Faction' - too much on the outside of what Touma goes through - although she does consider herself firmly on Touma's side.

Thor is her...friend. She can decide her own friends.

{But OK, from what I remember, most of Europe uses 400V phase-to-phase, and 230V phase-to-neutral. So, 400V phase-to-phase TN, with variances TN-C/TN-S/TN-CS, 5-leader power system.}

[Right. And this means delivering high voltage to street transformers and stepping it down, and hundreds of meters with low-voltage cabling.]

{Copper?}

[Right.]

{But it's so expensive! Why not alu-fort-cables? Cheaper and they conduct as well as copper.}

[Look, princess, only Academy City has the technology to manufacture capacity-fortified aluminum in the required quantities.]

It's three in the morning before Mikoto remembers to go to sleep. She dozes off in her classes but feels she learns more from her discussions with Thor anyway.

Mikoto suggests they start using an online messaging app, so they can send images and videos not easily supported by their native text apps. The first thing she sends is a wiring schematic for the AAA she's reconfiguring for her own use, expecting (and receiving) Thor's comments as insightful, useful, and rather amusing.

The second thing she sends is a meme of a lightning bolt striking a tree, the bolt huge and starkly white against a purple sky. "Fuck this tree in particular!" proclaim big letters.

[Hey. I saw some of your fight with those idiots from the Offshoot Church.]

{Is that what they're called? All I know is they were making a ruckus in MY city. Well, what'd you think?}

[ ○ Rekt . ○ Not Rekt . ● Tyrannosaurus Rekt ]

Mikoto grins, and feels proud of herself. It distracts from still-healing injuries.

(In Europe, certain branches of the Offshoot Church are leveled to the ground, their wooden timbers blackened by lightning.)

Mikoto finally gets a phone to replace her beloved, but out-dated, Gekota-phone. She needs a larger screen and better processors to cope with all the things she sends and receives from Thor.

Kuroko is ecstatic, thinking the new, sleek, touchscreen phone is a sign her adored Oneesama is outgrowing childish things. She is then disappointed by the bright green Gekota sticker Mikoto immediately plasters on its back.

[Miko-chan, I need to tell you something about your Sisters in Helsinki. They're being targeted.]

[Attachment: video01 . mpg ]

{Thank you, Thor. I owe you one.}

She's on the next plane to Helsinki, glaring at the video she's been sent, two men stalking one of her Sisters.

AN: I don't actually know that much about where Thor fits in the Raildex story and how he and Misaka have interacted, as I am mostly a Railgun fan, but the concept of these two awesome lightning-users getting along swimmingly is great fun for me. I didn't even know about Thor until 61wisampa and her fic, "What Causes A Spark", so blame her for this.