This is my first Toaru Majutsu no Index story but I got into the series a little awhile ago and just love it. I hope to have an exciting story going even with this being my first one. I am always open to suggestions from anyone.

Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters.

In Academy City there exists a certain building with no windows or doors. In this building, there is a single individual floating upside down in a cylinder full of a red liquid, that the few who have seen it would swear it resembled blood. This individual, who looks like an adult, yet also a child; like a man, yet also a woman; like a saint, yet also a criminal, was gazing upon several monitors viewing situations across Academy City. Two of these situations had caught his eye. The first monitor was watching a location outside a laboratory receiving a shipment from a large truck. The main difference between this and a normal shipment was, besides the scientists, several mechanical power suits were unloading two containers. This might not have been unusual if these suits were not armed with to the teeth with high powered weaponry. The second unusual occurrence was out of the two containers, one was just a small wooden box with several ancient style runes lining the outside edges, the other, was obviously a person.

The person was bound tight in a scientifically engineered metal wrap, while looking and feeling similar to cloth, it was stronger than steel. His or her head was covered by a sensory deprivation mask which prevented the individual from knowing anything that was happening around them. An electric field surrounded his restraints, powered by a reactor located directly behind the chair the individual was bound to. A voice was caught through the camera that was watching this scene unfold.

"Careful you idiots, if either of those containment devices break, we are all dead."

Aleister Crowley, Superintendent of Academy City, moved his eyes slightly to the second monitor. On this screen, two noticeable figures where running down a deserted street chasing a third under a full moon. The first figure was a dark haired man wearing a black cloak. The two people chasing him were a very unlikely pair. One was a spiky, black haired, kid who had to be in high school, the other was a two meter tall red headed man, with a face of someone much younger, and smoking a cigarette.

Aleister did not show his emotions, but frowned in his head. A single magician who trespassed in this city would be easy enough to remove. He had over 76000 ways of doing so. The more important problem was that the Imagine Breaker boy was getting close to the location of Project 667. Eliminating the boy would not be a problem, but with over 70% of Aleister's plans requiring that boy to be alive, this was not an option he would consider at this time. Normally, the chance would be miniscule that the boy would meet the experiment, but the Imagine Breaker always manage to find himself in situations that caused problems for others.

If the Imagine Breaker meets up with that boy, Aleister thought. I will simply move my plans ahead of schedule. After all, that boy was the first and only successful experiment of the…..

How did I get involved in any of this? A certain unlucky boy thought to himself, as he rushed after the man ahead of him. His thoughts turned back to the beginning of the day…..

Touma Kamijou, a spiky haired high school student, woke up that morning reasonably content, and then he opened his refrigerator. It was empty; he had forgotten to buy food yesterday.

"TOOOOUUUUMMMMAAAA"

He turned around and saw his current resident, a very young silver haired nun, coming for him, Index, his friend and walking magic encyclopedia. She too had notice the fridge was empty and, putting it mildly, she always had a very healthy appetite. Touma realized the danger to late, as Index radiated a very dark aura around her and revealed her teeth.

"I'm sorry Index! SUCH MISFORTUNE!"

Touma left the apartment with teeth marks still covering his head and his day only got better. He had just finished shopping and, miraculously, managed to find a decent sale on food. He did not have a lot of money and, as Index ate for roughly four people, money was always tight. As he was walking home, a truck came speeding down the road and through a puddle, drenching poor Touma from head to toe. He sighed, his luck was the same as usual, and he turned to take a shortcut through the park. This turned out to be a bigger mistake. About halfway through the park, some kids playing tag ran by him and the last one knocked into him as he passed. Touma's arm swung back from the surprise blow and it caused him to lose his grip on the wet bag. It went flying to the side of the path and landed on a middle school girl eating ice cream on the park bench. Touma was about to apologize, when he saw who was hit and his face paled instantly.

"Onee-sama!" a tawny colored pig tailed girl cried to the other girl who was covered in food. "Are you ok?"

The girl, who was covered in food, wiped some off her face. She had short chestnut brown hair and, when she saw who had covered her in food, her gaze narrowed and sparks shot out of her eyes, figuratively and literally. Her name was Mikoto Misaka, one of the seven level 5's in Academy City's 2.3 million residents. She was the third most powerful ability user, an electro master, and famously called the Railgun. She had always seen Touma as a rival, since she has never been able to defeat him, and it did not help sooth her ego when she found out the city considered him a level 0, the weakest ability user. The tawny colored pigtailed tailed girl next to her, who was trying to wipe off the food on Mikoto with a handkerchief, was named Kuroko Shirai, a level 4 teleporter. Both were roommates at the prestigious all girl school, Tokiwadai Middle School. Kuroko idolized Mikoto and had hated Touma since their first encounter.

"How dare this barbarian ruin Onee-sama's flawless face," Kuroko cried in outrage pulling out her needles she kept strapped to her legs she used for judgment duties. "I will avenge her honor…." She stopped, because Mikoto had just stoop up and was emitting a lot of electricity. Touma took a couple steps back in response, feeling his hair stand up on end.

"YOU!" Mikoto roared and shoot a bolt of electricity at Touma. There was a sound of breaking glass and the bolt disappeared, as Touma raised his right hand instinctively. Touma had used his most powerful weapon, and only weapon, against her electricity. His right hand contained an ability called the Imagine Breaker. His hand had the power to cancel out all supernatural abilities, scientific or magical, and even God's miracles, but it could not be measured by science and that was why he was still considered a level 0. Touma blocking the electricity did not discourage Mikoto though. "Don't think you will get away with this!" she yelled at him.

Touma made the best decision for this situation in an instant. He turned, and ran as fast as he could away from Mikoto, while yelling over his shoulder back at her. "I'm sorry, it was an accident! Please don't shock me. SUCH MISFORTUNE!"

Mikoto continued to chase after him, shooting electricity, while Kuroko watched from the bench. Why does Onee-sama look so happy? Kuroko thought to herself. And how did that boy stop her attack?

Touma sighed. He finally got away from Mikoto, but his hair was still on end from all the electricity in the air. She had chased him for ten blocks, before she finally had to stop for air. He took the opportunity to disappear into a crowd of people. His stamina was one of his best traits and he was able to continue running for quite a bit longer. Touma then stopped by a convenience store and got some flavored bread for Index.

Hopefully this will keep her from eating me, he thought to himself. As he was about to enter his dorm, he suddenly stopped. I have a really bad feeling right now. He put the food down, quietly opened the door, and quickly looked around. "Index, are you here?" he called out. There was nothing but silence, then…

"She is not here right now."

Touma heard a man's voice and he felt his body drop to five degrees Kelvin. He recognized that voice and it was never a good sign when he appeared before Touma. "Where is she?" Touma asked and partially demanded.

From around the corner, a two meter tall, red haired, young man walked forward. Stiyl Magnus, a fire magician, who belonged to The Church of Necessary Evil also known as Necessarius. It was never a good indication when he appeared, it always lead to trouble for Touma. Stiyl pulled out a cigarette and started smoking, before he replied to Touma's question.

"Kanzaki is currently leading her away for the time being. The information I have to tell you is not for her to hear," he answered, puffing on his cigarette.

"Why are you here?" Touma asked. "Is it a magician?"

"You seem to be getting smarter," Stiyl replied. "Yes, a magician has entered Academy City to get revenge on a certain individual."

"Who?"

Stiyl raised an eyebrow, "I thought it would be obvious. He is after you. Why else would I have come to you specifically?"

Touma's heart sank. Why do all these people come after me? Don't they know I just want to live a normal high school life? He sighed. "Can I know why this guy is after me?"

Stiyl frowned. "Yes. He is after you because you defeated his old teacher….Aureolus Izzard."

Touma had a brief recollection of the powerful alchemist who sliced off his right hand and nearly killed his friends. "Why would you tell people that I defeated him? Shouldn't you have kept this a secret so Index could stay hidden since she lives with me?" Touma asked angrily.

Stiyl's eyes narrowed in anger at Touma's accusation. "Don't you dare say I do not take Index's safety seriously. The only four people who know what happened there are you, me, Kanzaki and my direct supervisor. None of us spread out that information and I am fairly certain you did not either."

"Then how does he know I did it?"

"That is the real problem," Stiyl said. "Several days ago we discovered a plot to uncover several of our church's secrets by an unknown organization. We manage to capture two of the intruders, but before we could question them they turned into ashes. These were not golems, but actual people. They had runes hidden to kill themselves if they are caught."

Touma coughed. "They killed themselves?"

"Yes," Stiyl verified, and then continued as if he was not interrupted. "However, an item was stolen. The Illunis, more commonly known has the Mirror of Isis. Isis was an Egyptian god of magic, since you obviously don't know." Stiyl smiled slightly, as he insulted Touma, before continuing. "Well, this mirror allows an individual to view past events. It was mainly used as an educational item in order to learn about ancient structures and events, but during war it was a useful tool to view how their enemies attacked their cities, as well as their forces. We found out they used this item to view Aureolus's research and they discovered that you defeated him. The only good news is that the mirror was cracked centuries ago and it is not as clear as it use to be. So they will not have a full view of his research or the power of your Imagine Breaker. What they do know for sure is that you defeated him. However, we need to catch this guy alive. He is not part of the order that broke in; he was just a lone alchemist from the Zurich School named Heris Gilasar. We need to find out who gave him this information and why."

"Does he have the mirror?" Touma asked.

"Yes, this makes tracking him much easier. In order to use the mirror, it takes about 30 minutes of preparation in which I can track his mana. He knows this, so he cannot use the mirror to view information about us. So the only thing he can do is come after you directly."

"So you plan to use me as bait," Touma said grimly, as realization kicks in.

"You catch on fast," Stiyl replied, rubbing out his first cigarette and lighting another. "We need to get moving before Index returns. I am not going to let her get involved."

Touma nodded. He still did not completely trust Stiyl, but if he did not help Necessarius when asked, he ran the risk of them taking Index away. He glared at Stiyl, remembering how he was willing to use Touma as a sacrificial pawn in a heartbeat, in order to fulfill the mission. Style noticed his glare and smiled.

"Good to see you have not gotten to familiar. Our relationship works better that way. Let's go."

Touma and Stiyl left the dorm and headed out into the city to set up a trap for the alchemist.

The trap they set up was simple, but worked better than expected, although the situation was different then they initially imagined. All Touma and Stiyl did was wait until nightfall and then had Touma pretend to have to run out to a convenience store. They also had to make sure Index was well away from the dorm. With Touma's luck, he was bound to run into the Alchemist. Touma had almost made it back to the dorm, without being attacked, when he saw his dorm room explode. Fire erupted from his room and he could feel the heat from outside the building. For one wild moment, Touma thought Stiyl was the one who set off the explosion, until he heard a voice from a nearby ally.

"Damn it, why are you out here and not in your room at this hour?"

Touma turned and saw a man with dyed green hair. He obviously fixed it to look like his teacher. "You idiot," Touma called out, as anger filled him. "There could have been innocent people in there."

"Nothing will stop me from avenging my master," Heris Gilasar replied. He grabbed a trash can lid and said, "Become a spear to strike my enemy." The metal lid transformed into a five foot long spear and hurled itself at Touma.

Touma raised his right hand out of reflex and as the spear collided with it. The sound of breaking glass was heard and the spear became a trash lid once again. It fell to the ground in front of Touma with a dull clang. "Just stop while you can," Touma told him, as he ran toward the alchemist.

"How did you do that?" Heris roared and grabbed the nearby metal trash bin. "Become a knight and vanquish my enemy." The trashcan warped into the appearance of a knight in full armor, equipped with a sword and shield, and rushed toward Touma, raising its sword to strike.

A 3000 degree Celsius flame suddenly came flying down from a nearby roof and engulfed the metal knight, melting it into a puddle. The alchemist looked up to see Stiyl holding a rune card in his outstretched hand. "Damn, why is the flame mage here?" he growled. Heris realized he had no chance of winning against both of them. He turned around and bolted down the street as fast as he could. Touma and Stiyl immediately started to pursue him.

The chase continued from the main residential area in District 7 to District 22. Every time they got near him, he would use his alchemy to create obstacles out of metal. He seemed to only be able to mold metal but, in a large city, that is not really a hindrance. They eventually lost track of the alchemist and had to stop to try to discern where he was hiding.

"Damn it," Stiyl mumbled angrily. "Where did he go? His mana ends here, so he must have made a door somewhere nearby."

Touma looked around. Many buildings surrounded them, most looked like research stations, but none of them look like they were broken into. He walked around the entrances of the buildings, when something caught his eye. A metal segment of a wall seemed to have moved onto the cement a little farther away from the building then the rest. Touma reached over and touched the metal. The familiar sound of breaking glass was heard, and the metal wall vanished, revealing several steps leading underground and ending at a door.

"Good work," Stiyl said. "I knew it was worth bringing you along."

They both walked down the stairs and opened the unlock door. Another set of steps lead deep underground. Stiyl let a small fire in his hand, and he and Touma descended into the darkness. At the bottom of the flight of stairs, there was another hallway going left and right. Stiyl looked both ways. "Guess we split up here. I'll take left and you take right."

Touma nodded. He did not like the idea of splitting up, but they would be able to cover more ground this way. Luckily, there were soft green emergency lights down here, so he did not have to wonder around blindly in the dark. He moved quietly listening for anything to alert him of the presence of the alchemist. He saw a door at the end of the hall and, as he was nearing it, he suddenly heard gun shots. He ducked just in time as two bullets passed through the door and above his head. "What the hell are you doing!" a voice roared from behind the door. "If you break the containment field we are all going to die."

"Get away you science dogs," a familiar voice says. There was a pause. "Wow, I knew your science did some twisted things, but this…who would have thought. HAHAHA." His laughter was becoming more twisted and dark.

Touma kicked the door open and barged in. He looked around and thought he stepped into a warzone. Several twisted remains of power suits were lining the walls and floor. Two scientists where lying on the floor unconscious, several lights were broken, and, in the middle of the room, stood Heris, He kicked the body of a scientist and turned to Touma, with a metal sword in hand.

"Well Imagine Breaker boy," he said. "You found me. I do not believe I can defeat your accursed power with normal methods."

"Then stop this madness," Touma replied gritting his teeth. "There has been enough death."

"It will never stop," Heris replied. "You killed my teacher, the greatest alchemist the world has ever seen. Science will do anything to further their advance, including getting rid of competition and sacrificing others. I bet they were behind leading you to defeat him."

"That's not true…" Touma began, but was cut off by Heris.

"You are either stupid or naïve. Let me show you the morality of science." He turned to a control panel and flipped a switch. The emergency lights in the back of the room flickered on and two walls slid away from each other, revealing a sight that made Touma freeze in place.

Strapped to a chair, was obviously a youth. His head was covered by a sensory deprivation device and his body was wrapped in a cloth like fabric, which bound him to the chair. An electric field surrounded him, like a bird cage, and his ankles and wrists were bound by iron bars to the chair's arm rests and legs.

"I wonder what this kid did to deserve this faith." Heris laughed, enjoying Touma's shocked glance. "This is why science must be stopped. Only magic will lead the way to true salvation. My master understood that and you killed him."

Touma's hand formed a fist and he clenched his teeth. "If you think killing people is your way of leading them to salvation, then I have no choice. I'LL DESTROY THAT SCREWED UP ILLUSION OF YOURS!" He charges forward and delivered a punch right into Heris's face, knocking him back into the control panel. A buzzing sound was heard for a moment, before the electricity surrounding the prisoner disappeared.

"You fool," Heris told him, holding a hand up to his bloody nose and backing away from Touma, towards the prisoner. He reached over and grabbed hold of the cloth binding the prisoner. He smiled when he realized what the fabric was made of. "Become my fist and halt my enemy." The bindings started to unwrap around the bound individual and formed a large fist in midair. The fist flew towards Touma and he instinctively reached out with his right hand to negate the magic, but the fist moved around his hand and delivered a blow right into his stomach.

"Oomph," Touma gasped, as he flew backwards and smashed against a wall. Shit, Touma thought. That might have broken a rib. He looked up and saw the fist coming to deliver another punch. It was nearing him, when a blast of fire flew from the door Touma had originally entered the room from, turning the fist into a puddle on the floor. Touma turned and, to his relief, saw Stiyl standing there.

"Humph," Stiyl said. "I thought I heard your voice down here. Looks like you got him cornered."

"Quit interfering flame magician!" Heris yelled at Stiyl. "This is between me and the boy."

"Not quit," Stiyl replied calmly. "You see, no matter how much I dislike him, he is under our protection and you do not have the authority to change that." Touma chose to ignore the first half.

"You…" Heris started to say, and then stopped, as several loud clangs echoed across the room. All three of them turned to look at the noise.

The prisoner had stood up, as the metal bars that bound him to the chair fell to the floor. He reached up and pulled off the deprivation helmet device and threw it off to the side. He was male, probably around Touma's age, with blonde hair. He was probably half an inch shorter than Touma and his muscles were more defined. He only had a pair of blue boxers on after the cloth was pulled off. His eyes were orange and they swept around the room, taking in the three people standing amid the carnage around him. He raised an eyebrow when his eyes met Touma's, as if to say, "What's going on?"

"You boy," Heris called to the former prisoner. "I don't know why these science dogs imprisoned you, but if you help me defeat these two, I will make sure you are rewarded beyond imagining." The boy looked at him for a moment, before nodding, and moved closer to him.

"Wait," Touma called out, to both the newcomer and to Stiyl, as he had reached into his pocket to pull out a rune card. "Don't trust him. He will just use you."

"Ha," Heris laughed loudly. "Don't you see, people respect my ideals. He is obviously powerful or why else would he have been imprisoned like that. Now we will…"

His words were cut off, as the boy gave him a swift karate chop to the back of the head. Heris fell to the ground unconscious, while Touma was only able to gape in shock. Finally he got his words together. "Thanks," Touma said, "for taking him out without killing him. Umm, what is your name? My name is Touma Kamijou and this is Stiyl."

"Jason Kagere," the boy said staring at him. "To be honest, I did not do it for you. I did it to shut him up. He was so annoying and his words reeked with lies."

Touma felt a shiver through his spine. There was something about this boy; his words seemed to be normal enough, but his voice and attitude for someone just freed from a prison, were unusual. It sounded like…..he was just bored. It might have been because his eyes were a different color, but Touma felt as if this boy was staring though him.

"Are you a resident from Academy City?" Touma asked cautiously. The boy nodded in response.

"Well," Stiyl said and Touma turned to look at him and saw that he had several rune cards in his hand. "That leaves two questions that need to be answered. One, if you are an ability user, why are you radiating such an insane amount of mana? Two, why do you not have a shadow?"

Author's Note: Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. Sorry for ending it on a cliff hanger but it was a good spot to end before finding out about the new character. Next chapter will also introduce more of the original characters. I foresee the next chapters being a lot longer as I get more experience doing this fan fiction. I have a lot of plans for this story and hope to continue it for quite a while, minus any acts of god or Touma level misfortune.

I always welcome comments and new ideas.