AUTHOR NOTES:

So, this is the official first chapter of this fic, now renamed. This fic is not a continuation of Demonic Vectors, that was just a test run. Writing sessions will, again, be few and far between, but I promise to do my best to keep going. Thanks for reading!

Most people would think it an unusual day if they suddenly found themselves running for their lives. If they had tried to defend a girl from a forthcoming asshole, suddenly discovered that said asshole was part of a whole gang of assholes, and now happened to be sprinting aimlessly down the street in the middle of the night with every single one of said thugs in hot pursuit, they would probably wonder how their life had come to this.

This is because most people were not a certain unlucky Touma.

"Just my luck!", the boy shouted to himself as he pumped his legs as fast as he could, hearing the jeers of his pursuers growing louder by the second.

"Get the hell back here, kid!"

"You think running's gonna save you?!"

He didn't. He knew that the more athletic members of the gang could outpace him even if he wasn't running on an empty stomach. But considering that the only other alternative he could think of was to fight them, he couldn't really see a choice in the matter. Best case scenario, I punch one of them out, but talk about a short-lived victory. Man, what was I thinking?! With my luck I should've known this was gonna happen!

As Touma continued running, panting and ranting to himself, he was too distracted to notice that the thugs had ceased pursuit, that suspicious arcs of static electricity seemed to be running across every nearby metal surface, or that he had passed by the same girl he attempted to rescue earlier without even glancing in her direction.

Nor did he notice the mysterious shooting star in the night sky. One that seemed to come to rest on a nearby bridge.

One that lay directly in Touma's path.

By the time Touma reached the bridge, he was so out of breath he couldn't even manage to whisper another curse. His throat felt like it was on fire, and his entire body itched with sweat. He looked back over his shoulder to check his surroundings, panting like a dog. By some miracle, it seemed he had escaped a painful fate. Unable to stand anymore, he collapsed to his knees.

"Finally", he panted, "They got tired of running."

"What was that all about?" A voice behind Touma startled him. He turned quickly and saw that the girl he had saved earlier was standing some distance away, looking down the bridge with a haughty expression on her face. Her brown hair flowed in the night wind, matching her piercing eyes and school uniform. Touma was too confused to respond, so she continued, "Paying the hero by protecting some dim-witted thugs? What, are you a teacher or something?"

Finally it clicked in Touma's head.

"So, the only reason they stopped coming after me was-?"

"You got it", the girl interrupted. "They were starting to annoy me, so I dealt with them." As if to demonstrate how, she brushed her hair to the side with her right hand, generating a crackling flicker of blue lightning that danced across her fingers before dissipating. Now Touma somewhat realized that he was talking to another esper of some sort.

"Yeah, it figures", he sighed. So it was that stupid pervert who was about to be the real victim, huh? Guess it really was all for nothing.

"Hey, hero", the girl called, drawing his attention back to her. She had pulled a coin from her pocket, and now held it visibly between her finger and thumb. She gave a wry smirk, one that Touma really didn't like the look of.

"Have you ever heard of a railgun?"

Touma was confused. He felt like he had heard the word before, but couldn't quite place it. Something Ms Tsukuyomi had mentioned in a physics lesson, maybe? The girl continued.

"A super-electromagnetic gun; it's an application of Fleming's Kinetic Momentum Theory. You use it to launch projectiles with a little extra... oomph." With this, she flicked the coin into the air, eyes remaining locked on Touma. "Allow me to demonstrate." He followed the coin with his eyes, watching it rise and turn slower and slower until it stopped for a brief moment, suspended in the air. But rather than following the coin's descent, his eyes moved up further, and he thought he saw... someone standing on one of the bridge's support towers.

KZZKZT!

A glowing orange pinprick of molten metal, coated in a spiraling bolt of lightning, whizzed by. It grazed within an inch of Touma's face so fast that by the time he noticed it in his peripheral vision, it had already long since passed him, throwing up a sizeable explosion of fire and shattered concrete when it hit the ground some distance away.

"When it's launched at three times the speed of sound, even something small packs a big punch", the girl gloated, an aura of crackling energy still surrounding her and making Touma's skin crawl. He stared at her with a look of shock.

"Is that what you used to take care of those guys?", he asked incredulously, already picturing the carnage that must have ensued.

"Don't be such a moron", the girl scoffed, "there are easier ways to take care of a bunch of Level 0's, and I know them all." Now Touma was positive who he was speaking to. And he wasn't particularly liking her attitude

"So you're one of the seven Level 5's, huh? Tell me, are the others this rude or are you just special?" He knew he was probably being an idiot, but hey, it's not like she'd just be willing to kill him on the spot. "You could really stand to be less condescending. Humility's a virtue, you know."

The girl stared at him, stunned. He figured she'd probably lash back at him, and he was prepared for that. it just felt good to let her know what he thought of the situation. What he didn't expect was for her to smile mischievously at him.

"You must be good", she said, arcs of lightning twisting up her body and causing her hair to fan out, "Otherwise you wouldn't talk to me that way, would you?"

Touma's eyes widened and he stumbled back, quickly regretting his words. "W-w-wait! I-I'm just a Level 0! You can't- urk!" He was interrupted by a bolt that darted dangerously close to him, forcing him to shield his eyes. The girl's smile faded and was replaced with a determined look as she gathered her power in her right hand, forming a ball of screeching electricity that jolted and vibrated in her palm.

Then someone dropped from the sky, landing lightly between the two of them, to Touma's complete surprise.

The figure stood up slowly, lifting their face and meeting his eyes. It was a young man, probably around Touma's own age. They wore only a pair of silvery shorts and black running shoes, and their skin had a very faint grey tinge to it. Occult-looking tattoos crisscrossed all over their body, and, to Touma's continued confusion, some sort of small black horn protruded from the base of their head, just below the hairline. They had a slim but athletic figure, the tattoos branching over their skin all the way up to their face and to the ends of their fingers. They had short, straight hair with several cowlicks, and baleful yellow eyes that gleamed unnaturally as they stared into his own.

"You there", the boy said, pointing to him, "I need to ask you something."

"Look out!", Touma cried, pointing over him. The girl scowled at the newcomer as he turned to look at her, reeling her arm back as the electricity grew in intensity.

"Get out of the way!", she yelled, launching her attack anyway. A massive pillar of searing blue lightning blasted forth from her hand, screaming down the length of the bridge like a freight train of pure energy. The ground cracked and split as the bolt raced over it, heading straight for Touma, with the new kid right in its path. Touma, without thinking, threw himself forward, hoping to push the other guy to the ground.

The two boys raised their hands in unison, Touma his right and the new kid his left. The tattooed boy didn't react as Touma's hand clapped onto his shoulder, but simply spoke a single word.

"Tetrakarn."

Nothing happened. The boy, who showed no sign of fear at the oncoming blast, was struck right in the stomach and sent hurtling backwards, colliding with Touma and sending both to the ground as a massive explosion sent massive tendrils of electricity whipping up and down the metal bridge.

The girl stared, jaw open, as the static died down. She had expected the new kid to jump out of the way, not just stand there like an idiot. Now, as far as she knew, she had just killed two other students. Panicking, she turned and ran, hoping to find an ambulance, or an adult, or something.

When the dust cleared, Touma managed to get a grip on the situation. He was laying on his back, with the newcomer collapsed on top of him, seemingly unconscious. Touma was surprised he was even in one piece, considering the blast he'd just received. What was really bizarre, though, was the fact that the boy's tattoos had completely changed color. Initially they had been black, with some kind of luminescent blue-green around the edges of the lines, but now they changed to a faded dark grey, while the edges now pulsed faintly with a red glow.

"Hey, man. You okay?", he asked, struggling to prop himself up a little without moving the other victim too much. The boy was breathing, and his mouth moved slightly, but no words came out. With a sigh of relief, Touma looked out over the bridge and saw that the girl had disappeared. Probably went to find help, he thought. He looked back at the boy, wondering what to do for him.

Well... I guess I might be able to take him back to my place.

The next morning, Touma woke up drenched in sweat. He began to sit up, then winced as a sharp ache ran up his spine. Apparently sleeping on the wooden floor didn't do wonders for his back. Man, only one night, and I already feel like I've got rheumatism.

Finally managing to rise to his feet, he wiped his brow and coughed. The air in his house was hot enough that it felt like a sauna without the steam. His throat was dry and his hair was matted to his head. Apparently, having a Level 5 esper throw around blasts of lightning could have a slight chance of causing the city's power to go out. Who knew?

"Just my luck", he sighed, closing his eyes to think, "Well, at least I'm probably not the only one suffering..." His eyes snapped open as he remembered the previous events and he turned towards the couch. His new "guest" was still out cold. He had tried laying him on his back (the weird horn on his head had punctured the couch cushions in the process) and draping a blanket over him to keep him from getting chilled in the night. Boy, did that end up being a non-issue.

Touma quickly pulled the blanket off of him, hoping the heat hadn't given him a fever. To his surprise, he hadn't even shed a drop of sweat. He looked perfectly healthy as he slept, and even his tattoos had returned to their normal shade of black. In the light of day, they didn't even look like they had any glow to them. Still unsure of what to do, Touma tried leaning over and feeling the boy's forehead. His skin was completely cool. In fact, if anything, it was even cooler than Touma's hand.

Maybe he's an esper that heals quickly or something, Touma wondered, in any case I should probably try to figure out what to do with him until he wakes up.

His thoughts were interrupted as his cell phone rang. He didn't recognize the caller ID, but it turned out to be someone from the school telling him that apparently his grades had fallen far enough that he needed to take a remedial class. With another sigh, Touma closed the phone. "Just my luck", he said again. Uh-oh. Two in one morning. Not a good sign.

Hoping the fresh(er) air would help him think, Touma stepped out onto his porch balcony. Well, I have to get to class, but I probably shouldn't just leave him here. Maybe I should call an ambulance? No, he seems uninjured... Maybe I should try-...

...

...

...

...?!

He had been distracted by his own train of thought, but his eyes bulged as it suddenly occurred to him that something was draped over his balcony railing. And that that something appeared to by a young girl dressed in a gold-and-white nun's habit. He sat there for several moments, trying in vain to process and comprehend the sight before him. "What the hell-?", he started to say, but was interrupted as she suddenly spoke in a faint, tired voice.

"...

"... hungry..."