A/N:

So this is an OC Toaru fic. It might start off a bit vague, but it's mostly going to be about GROUP, whom I love with all my heart (along with the bazillion other characters of the epic creation of Kazuma Kamachi. Who owns all this; I own nothing except my OC and the plot). I don't think there'll be any pairings; I'm not planning for them. Also the timeline of actual events will be somewhat warped...


Chapter One – The Girl Who Wants to be a Hero

They say that Level 4 is the level that an ESPer gains the tactical value of a military force. Well, I never wanted to be the military. I'm the search and rescue.

But with a power like mine, all I can do is destroy.


It was evening in Academy City. Most students would be either on their way to their dormitories, or already there by this stage in the evening. The girls of Tokiwadai Middle School were all supposed to be in their dorms, and the Dorm Mistress was already on her way to do the rounds and make sure all the ojou-samas of Tokiwadai were safely in their dorms.

But it so happens that on that night, there was a girl missing.

School District 6 – a place filled with various places for leisure and recreation. There was even an amusement park there, but it was closed. Only a few people were out at this time of night, and they were mostly teachers and a few delinquents who are avoiding going to their dorms. As always in Academy City, in the background the noise of the wind-mills could be heard along with the constantly blowing wind.

It was a dry night. There had been no rain for several weeks. Despite this, the ground around one of the rides in the amusement park was soaked through.

This was the power of the level 4 ability "Firewater".

The owner of this ability was kneeling in a pool of blood, but none of it was hers. For more than a year now she has been following the movements of the Misaka Sisters in an attempt to stop the brutal slaughter that has been going on, but once again she arrived too late.

"Damn it. Damnit, damnit, damnit!" Her bloodstained hands were suddenly soaked with water and clean again in an instant, courtesy of her ability Firewater.

That was the hundredth time she had appeared at an "experiment" to find only bloodstains. The ninety-fifth time she appeared to find no body. And the two-hundredth time she had ignored curfew to come searching for the Misaka Sisters in an attempt to help her idol Misaka Mikoto.s

Fukuda Touko didn't know why these people are being slaughtered. She didn't know why they were created, and she didn't know who was killing them. All she knew was that an experiment like the one she'd discovered shouldn't be allowed to continue. She sighed as she remembered the one time that she was able to catch up with the other Sisters whilst they were cleaning up a body.

"Wait a minute! Isn't that girl your twin? Aren't you all the clones of Misaka Mikoto?" She'd heard that there were military clones being produced in the city using the DNA map of a level 5. The rumours at Tokiwadai were that the Railgun Misaka Mikoto was the one whose DNA was being used, and the faces of these twenty girls confirmed that rumour.

"'For security purposes, I am confirming the password with you,' says Misaka as she begins. 'ZXC741ASD852QWE687,' Misaka tests you."

"Wh..." The level 4 was unable to say a word in response to that string of letters and numbers. She didn't even know how to respond to the strange way of talking that the clone had.

"'Being unable to decode the password shows you are unrelated to this experiment,' Misaka concludes as she turns to leave."

"Wait!" The black-haired girl reached out a hand and grabbed the arm of the girl who looked identical to her idol Misaka Mikoto. "What experiment is going on here? I heard they were producing military clones, but to kill them straight off? What kind of experiment is that?" Her angry and confused voice echoed off the narrow walls of the alley.

"'I have confirmed you are not related to this experiment,' says Misaka as she repeats. 'Please do not enquire into this matter any further,' Misaka warns you."

But Touko couldn't give up. Knowing that clones of her idol Misaka Mikoto were being made and destroyed inside the very city she lived in... Surely the number 3 level 5 knew what was happening to her clones? To her "Sisters"?

There must be a reason why the Railgun wasn't acting. There had to be something that prevented her from stopping the senseless slaughter, otherwise someone such as Mikoto surely would have already stopped this experiment. That was why she, Touko, had to step up and become a hero, in order to help those who couldn't do it themselves.

This was the first glimpse Fukuda Touko had of the dark side of Academy City.


A hero. There was a hero inside Academy City. Touko knew that much. She didn't know his name. She didn't know what he looked like or what connection he had to Misaka Mikoto. But that boy had done what she couldn't. He had stopped the slaughter of the Misaka Sisters.

He had stepped up at a time when the Railgun of Tokiwadai had needed help the most. He'd stepped up to do in the light what Touko had been unable to do from the shadows, and stopped the "experiment".

He was a true hero.


In School District 7 the sounds of thunderclaps and watery "thuds" could be heard echoing amongst the area known as the Garden of Learning. It was the day of the annual "System Scan", the power testing for all the students in Academy City. It was said that more than 60% of the 1.8 million students would once again be ranked as level 0 or level 1. But those students in the Garden of Learning, attending prestigious power development schools such as Tokiwadai, were higher levelled, more powerful ESPers. To even be allowed to enter the school, you had to have a power level of 3 or higher.

Inside the Tokiwadai students there were two of Academy City's level 5 ESPers. At the moment, the sound of shocks was echoing throughout the school – it was the sound of the number 3 level 5, the Railgun. Her power was so great that with an entire swimming pool of water to cushion the blow of the Railgun, Misaka Mikoto was still unable to use her full destructive power.

Fukuda Touko was leaning against a wall in one of the decorative corridors of Tokiwadai Middle School. Her black fringe was hanging over her sad, deep blue eyes. She had just come from her own power testing, and once again she had been given the rank of level 4.

Touko looked at the scars on the palms of her hands. Thanks to the doctors inside Academy City, she was still able to easily use her hands and the only remains of the accident are the shiny white marks across her palms. The doctors had said they could remove them, but Touko didn't ever want to forget what she'd done.

Firewater – the ability to manipulate and control hydrogen atoms. It wasn't a respected power. Those who knew of Touko's ability were afraid of becoming her enemy. Research industries followed her, each competing to see who could give her the best offer to use her powers for their benefit. It wouldn't be hard for Touko to become a level 5. The teachers had told her the same thing this year as they did last year.

"You're holding back, Fukuda-san. With that level of power, you could easily become the 8th level 5. But every year, you refuse to unleash your full potential. You will never get anywhere if you continue to do that."

Touko clenched her hands tightly and stared at the floor. She couldn't do it. She couldn't ever become a level 5. She didn't want to take that next step and truly become a "monster".

Hydrogen could be used in all sorts of ways. In power stations it could be used as a coolant, and it could be used as a "shielding gas" while welding. Some of its more finicky isotopes could be used in nuclear reactions. That, of course, is the second thing that comes to mind when someone mentions hydrogen. First, water. Second, the h-bomb.

Currently, Touko had demonstrated the ability to create an explosion equal to about 10 kilograms of TNT, about the size (or perhaps smaller) of a conventional bomb. She could create water from the air and hydrogen fire – that's how she had burned of the palms of both hands in an accident three years ago. This was certainly enough for her to "gain the tactical value of a military force", but not enough for her to be able to fight on equal terms with one of the seven level 5s. And Touko was much too afraid to even try reaching higher.

Touko didn't want to destroy things. She wanted to create. Except for the System Scan every year, the only explosions Touko created were tiny, just enough to create flickering little lights. Every year, whilst having her power tested, Touko was aware that she was holding back. But she knew that if she wanted she could easily fuse the hydrogen atoms and create something big enough to start World War III.

CEOs of power stations followed her around wherever she went. Touko's ability to manipulate hydrogen atoms could revolutionise the power industry, because Touko could even fuse and detonate the atoms without creating radiation.

But the size of the explosions they were asking for scared Touko. She was terrified of her own power. She wanted to become a hero, someone who could save someone. She could do that by detonating hydrogen inside a specially created power plant, and they could use that energy to power the entirety of Tokyo for a long time...

But Touko was too afraid of her own power.

Firewater – sometimes nicknamed "Rainy Day" because the infinitely larger amount of hydrogen available when it rained meant her power could be used more easily. It was the ability to destroy. An ability that had caused her to become a Child Error at the age of five, because her own parents were terrified by its potential.

I'll show them. I'll show them that I can do something more.

I can be a hero.


A/N: So what do you think of the plot so far? Please review and let me know! Reviews stir up the plot bunnies :D
Hopefully in the next chapter GROUP should be introduced. And I don't claim to be a physicist or chemist; I have only a vague idea what hydrogen can do. I used wikipedia for the rest...

Read and review!

Love, Sandarikka