Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from this fanfiction, I'm only borrowing them for awhile. While this story is inspired by 'A Certain Scientific Railgun' and features characters from that series it is NOT aligned with the regular canon of that title and is not set in the original Academy City. In fact it is a crossover between Railgun, Mai Hime, Negima, Black Lagoon, Read or Die and others, eventually. This story like most Shanejayell fictions will have yuri....
Academy City Prime: A Mega-crossover
One: A Certain Heroic Railgun
New Academy City sprawled across the Northern Mariana Islands, a series of smaller school-zones across the larger central island along with facilities along the island chain as well as cutting edge floating artificial islands. Founded some years ago by the governor of the islands the Mariana Academy expanded boldly as it accepted students, taking advantage both of it's nearness to the United States and it's convenience to international students. A agreement with two prestigious Japanese academies allowed for the reconstruction of much of the island and eventually the partners moving to the island itself. The Academy is considered a modern wonder....
Mikoto Misaka closed the guidebook before she had to read any more gushing, then looked around her thoughtfully. The brown haired young woman had only arrived here a few weeks ago, and was still getting used to finding her way around campus. She was lucky most of her classes were in the 'Mahora' district where Mahora University ran their section of the massive academy.
"Get back here!" a woman's voice yelled, the crowds on the street shifting.
A scruffy looking man clutching a purse burst from the crowd, running full tilt by Mikoto. She realized he was a thief almost immediately, and narrowed her eyes in concentration. Invisibly a burst of electricity leaped out from her, zapping the man and making him stumble.
As the man fell a girl about Mikoto's age seemed to appear from nowhere, her longer brown hair flowing around her. 'A teleporter?' Mikoto blinked, astonished as the girl pounced on the man, knocking him down.
"I'm Kuroko Shirai of Judgement!" she barked as he struggled weakly, "Surrender or suffer the consequences!"
"No way!" he managed to twist, slamming a elbow into Kuroko's head and sending her reeling backwards. "I'm not going down!" he staggered to his feet, ready to run.
Mikoto had been trying not to use her powers too visibly, but clobbering a girl? That was beneath contempt, in her opinion. Running after him she let the lightning dance around her visibly as she called, "Give it up!"
The man turned to look at her, his eyes widening in alarm, "What the hell?!"
Seeing he wasn't stopping Mikoto concentrated, throwing a burst of lightning that made his hair stand on end and slapping him to the ground. Cutting the juice she watched warily, noting he was breathing fine but appeared to be stunned, collapsed on the cobble stone covered street.
"Wow," Kuroko trotted up, clearly having recovered from the blow. "Are you new on the island?" she asked curiously as she knelt down and slapped handcuffs on the thief.
"Just transferred," Mikoto admitted, once again surprised at how calmly the islanders took this stuff. Of course the island had programs for developing extra-normal abilities, that was one of the reasons she had come here, but even the shop keepers and parents seemed rather mellow about the whole thing.
"That's a very impressive ability," Kuroko added, giving her a look that said she was admiring more than just Mikoto's powers.
Mikoto fought back a smile, having had girls develop crushes on her back when she was on the track team she could recognize the signs. "It comes in handy," she answered modestly. She looked at the still stunned goon, "Do you need a hand with him?"
"No," Kuroko shook her head, "my team should be here any minute."
Indeed after a few moments they heard the soft 'whoop' of the paddy wagon arriving, It was driven bu a woman older than both of them, but probably young enough to be in university. She wore casual clothes with, oddly, a katana slung over her back.
"Setsuna-sama," Kuroko bowed respectfully, "purse snatcher apprehended, ma'am." She looked over at Mikoto, "I have to confess I received help from this civilian, though."
The black haired woman with the off-centre ponytail smiled slightly as she offered Mikoto her hand, "I'm Setsuna Sakurazaka, I'm the head of Judgement branch 23. Thank you for helping my junior."
"Mikoto Misaka," she introduced herself as she shook Setsuna's hand. "It was no problem," she said modestly, "glad to help."
"May I ask how you...?" Setsuna asked as Kuroko hefted the now groggy but awake man up and hauled him into the back of the vehicle.
"I have electrical abilities," Mikoto said shyly, still feeling the caution she had developed concealing her powers as a child, "I stunned him once, then zapped him again when he bolted."
"I had tackled him, but he got a elbow to my head and bolted," Kuroko told Setsuna as she came back from securing the prisoner, "that was when Mikoto-oneesama let him have it."
"Big sis?" Mikoto raised a eyebrow while Kuroko blushed.
"I see," Setsuna said, a smile tugging at her lips at their byplay. "What level are you?" she asked Mikoto curiously.
"Four," Mikoto said, feeling a bit proud. The staff in charge of developing super human abilities had devised a broad ranking scheme for powers, running from zero on up to five, ranking both power and precision. She was at four mostly because of a lack of truly fine control, and once she got that she thought she was going to get five rank.
"That's very impressive," Setsuna nodded, smiling, then looked up at one of the clock towers dotted around school. "We'd better let you get on with your day," she said as she put a hand on Kuroko's arm and lead her to the truck, "but thank you again for your help."
"You're welcome," Mikoto smiled, thinking that she rather liked both women, at least so far.
"Ma'am," Kuroko said quietly as they headed off, "I was going to ask her about joining Judgement. We could use someone with that kind of power...."
Setsuna smiled at her as she said, "And we will ask her, but later." She looked thoughtful, "I don't think she's the type to just leap into things, we're going to have to win her over."
"I see," Kuroko nodded, her expression thoughtful as she tried to remember seeing Mikoto in any of her classes, not to mention which dorm she might be in.
"And no, you can't use Judgement privileges to look up her personal data," Setsuna said, easily guessing where the other girl was going.
Kuroko slumped down in her seat with a pout, "Awww."
Meanwhile Mikoto watched them go, feeling just a little miffed that they hadn't asked her to join Judgement. Not that she would have said yes, considering she was still adapting to this crazy academy, but it would have been nice to have been asked. After a moment Mikoto shook it off, turning and walking down the street as she looked for a certain cafe.
After nearly a month Mikoto had been assigned a academic adviser, and was on her way to meet her. Normally she would have been assigned a advisory before now, but there had been a surprisingly large increase in enrolment this year, as well as a shuffling of teachers. Things were apparently a bit disorganized in the teacher's lounge, and while they got a handle on it students like Mikoto had to wait.
Midori looked up as Mikoto entered the cafe, waving as she called, "Over here!" The busty redhead was wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, the twenty-something looking more like a woman on vacation rather than a teacher.
"Ma'am," Mikoto flushed as she took a seat across from her.
"Just call me Midori," she said before Mikoto could use her name. She waved down a maid and ordered iced coffee for them both, then looked over at Mikoto, "That okay?"
"Thank you," Mikoto smiled back, a little shocked at the woman's energetic style.
Midori sat back, her shoulder bag wobbling a bit against her seat. "I hate the formal crap in school," she confided, "but that's because I travelled abroad so much when I was younger. Most of my professors I knew on a first name basis, after a while."
Mikoto politely answered, "It must have been interesting."
"That it was," Midori agreed, then laughed as she added, "But I'm sure you don't want to hear me natter for hours on that." She looked at Mikoto intently, "How are you settling in?"
What followed was a polite but thorough grilling on her circumstances and day to day life. Midori asked about her rooms, her classes and her clubs, all handled in her cheerful and mildly blunt style. It was a bit like being run down by a horde of polite joggers, or something.
"I had a look at your transcript so far," Midori noted, "your teachers have nothing but positive things to say about you."
Mikoto blushed a bit, "Thank you."
Midori drank some of her coffee, sighing happily. "Any idea what you want to do long term?" she asked curiously.
"Not really," Mikoto admitted, "is that important?"
"Nah, you got a few years," Midori mused, "I was just thinking if there were any ways we could start helping you now." She looked at Mikoto, "Not in a club yet?"
"No, not yet," Mikoto answered.
Midori smiled wryly, "That's about the only think I have to ride you about. Club membership is required, even if it's one of the clubs you don't do anything in."
"There are clubs like that?" Mikoto asked, chuckling.
"The light reading club," a smirking Midori ticked them off, "the meditation club, the astral projection research group...."
"I'll pick something soon," Mikoto promised, laughing.
They had a light brunch while talking, then Midori took off, explaining she had paperwork to catch up on. Finishing off a second iced coffee Mikoto headed out, noting that the sun was on it's way down and the streets were getting less crowded. Casually she walked back towards where her dorm was, taking in the sights and the sea off in the distance.
'It's hard to believe all of this is recent construction.' Mikoto found herself musing as she ran her hand along one wall, 'It looks so old.'
Passing by a dimly lit side street Mikoto heard a grunt and a cry of pain, then further sounds of a struggle. Moving on instinct she turned and hurried down the alley, emerging into a open courtyard where several men were trying to hassle a orange haired woman. She was dressed as a senior and had long hair, tied up in twin ponytails atop her head. The men were circling her warily, one of them clearly having been kicked somewhere delicate.
"Get away from her!" Mikoto yelled.
"Shit!" one teen yelped, his short black hair falling into his eyes. "Jack, Noriko, get her! The rest of us will handle Kagurazaka!"
Deciding there was no time to be delicate Mikoto powered up as the two ran at her. "Give it up!" she warned them, giving them a chance. The guy went for a punch and Mikoto cut loose, blasting off enough lightning to knock both out.
The bolt went farther than Mikoto planned, however. The energy blazed onward towards the woman and her three attackers, then... seemed to curve AROUND her, somehow. Mikoto watched in shock as the bolt bit the people around the girl, who quickly dealt with her stunned foes.
"How...?" Mikoto blinked.
"I'm Asuna," the girl smiled sheepishly, "thanks for the help. I think they were just shaking me down for money, but you never know...."
Managing to get her wits back Mikoto demanded, "How did you avoid my attack?"
"I have a talent that negates other talents," Asuna admitted, backing up slowly. She took a look at her watch, "Whoops, got to go."
As Asuna bolted Mikoto was left standing amid the fallen, even as she heard the distant sirens of Judgement coming. 'Crap, I'd better not hang around,' she thought, hurrying off too. She silently resolved to see Asuna again, and find out if her power cancel worked against Mikoto's full power....
To be continued!
