Chapter 1: Shattered Innocence

-Akaze Airou-

"Hwuoaahh..." Airou yawned as he rubbed the sleep off his eyes.

It had been almost half a year since that kind doctor, Takasura-san, adopted him and his friends, Amane and Shiro. He promised them a home that they never once had and most importantly, the love of a parent. So far, their foster father hadn't failed to deliver. Between the lessons they received to control and enhance their powers and the times they spent time with each other, Dr. Takasura did his best to convey a father's love to them.

While walking down the research facility, he came across a brown haired girl that looked no more than a year older than him. She had a troubled look on her face which only seemed to help in making her appear older than her actual age. This worried him a lot because ever since they got adopted by Dr. Takasura, Amane had been the happiest and most cheerful among the 3 of them. In fact, he's always seen her wearing a smile on her face until today.

"Amane-chan, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Airou asked with a look of concern on his face.

"Wha... Oh hey, Airou-kun. It's... It's nothing" It looked like she desperately wanted to tell him something but she was hesitant to do so.

"You're a very bad liar, Amane-chan. C'mon. I want to help you but so long as you don't tell me what's bothering you, I can't" Airou pleaded. Amane kept glancing nervously back and forth at the cctv camera behind Airou, which the young boy seemed to notice. Then she took his hand and led him to a secluded part of the research complex, away from the eyes of any researcher or security camera.

"Why'd you bring me here, Amane-chan?" Airou asked quizzically. Whatever the reason was, she clearly didn't want anyone else to know about it.

"Well, you see, I was walking by myself near the main research lab when I heard Takasura-san and Kitamura-san arguing about something. I think it was called Level 5 Boost. They were talking about... conduct experiments on us so that we'd become Level 5 Espers as soon as possible." She said with a matter of urgency.

"Kitamura-san's always been a grouch toward us. But I'm sure Takasura-san would not allow that." He replied confidently. However, Amane looked even more distraught than before.

"It's the opposite. Takasura-san wanted to conduct the experiments but Kitamura-san was the one that's against it. But, he was powerless to contradict his plans." Amane replied, much to Airou's disbelief. "I know that among the 3 of us, you're the closest to Takasura-san. That's why I didn't want to tell you. But it's true. Maybe Takasura-san's having a change of heart about us..."

"Or the only reason he's adopted us is to turn us into his guinea pigs" A familiar black haired boy emerged from behind them. He looked about the same age as Amane though it was evident that he was way more mature than the two of them by the way he talks and acts. After all, Shiro was the thinker among them. He was the one who took care and looked after them before Anti-Skill handed them over to that orphanage and ultimately into Dr. Takasura's custody.

"I hate to break it to you Airou but Dr. Takasura may not be who he really seems." Shiro said sympathetically.

"No... That can't be true. Takasura-san won't do anything to put us in harm's way. You're lying!" Even then Airou still refused to believe that the closest person he's ever had to a father would do anything to hurt any of them.

"Sometimes the truth is a bitter pill to swallow." Shiro finally said before beckoning Amane to come with him.

It had been a few days since Amane and Shiro have voiced their thoughts about the purity of Dr. Takasura's intentions but Airou was still bothered by their words. As far as he's concerned, the only thing that the kind doctor has done so far was for their own good. He would regularly administer "check-ups" to see if their powers aren't affecting their health and what level they were at. Last time, he was already at Level 4 while Shiro was at Level 3. Amane's power was still a mystery since she seems to show different ones in every time a System Scan is conducted. But Dr. Takasura said she was at least Level 2. The problem was, they've been stuck at those levels for quite a while that even Airou could see the frustration in the scientist's face. Even so, the fact that he'd start conducting experiments on them was still too unlikely. At least that was what Airou wanted to believe. His hopes were dashed, however, when he heard Amane's muffled scream

Adrenaline surged through every vein of his body as he dashed towards the direction of the scream. When he got there, he saw Amane's motionless body sprawled on the floor behind Shiro. A few darts were sticking out of her body, a clear indication that she was shot. Shiro, on, the other hand, didn't look any better. His body was limp and riddled with the same kind of darts like those found on Amane's body yet he still desperately tried to protect Amane from...

"No... I hoped it wasn't true but..."

Standing before them with a maniacal grin on his face and a tranquilizer gun aimed at Shiro was none other than Dr. Katsugi Takasura himself.

"Ahh, how nice of you to join us, my youngest pet. Shiro told me that you were the one who had the most faith in me. How stupid." The scientist regarded him with a cruel smile.

"Airou? What are you doing here? Damn it. Get the hell out of here and take Amane with you. I'll hold him off as long as I can!" Shiro ordered.

"But... But what about you?" Airou asked in a shaky voice.

"I don't care what this bastard does to me. Just get her out of here and take her somewhere safe!" He shouted.

"My my, brave words coming from someone who can barely control his own powers, let alone his own body. The tranquilizer should have affected half of your body already, Elementum-kun. How long will you last, I wonder?" Takasura said mockingly.

"What the hell are you waiting for, Airou? GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Shiro yelled as he summoned a weak gust of wind in an attempt to hold off the deranged doctor but all it managed to do was to make the doctors gray hair whip wildly in the wind.

This, however, gave Airou enough time to carry Amane slowly away from the fray.

He looked behind him one last time and saw Shiro summon flames in his hands, one last defiant attempt to give them enough time to escape.

...

Airou felt like they were running forever. Lugging around Amane's unconscious body was way harder than he thought. He couldn't use his powers to create a stretcher or at least a metal panel to carry Amane in fear of being detected by the several esper power detection sensors that were installed all over the place. He once tried to make an iron marble but not without triggering half of the alarms in the place. What's more, he doesn't even know where to look for the exit. As far as he's concerned, the whole research complex was an underground labyrinth of laboratories, offices and tunnels.

"C'mon Amane. Wake up! We have to get out of here!" Airou said urgently as he carried her on his back.

As if this wasn't hard enough, a bunch of patrol robots spotted them and immediately made chase. With the added difficulty of the security bots pursuing them, he made a few wrong turns and now the two of them had been cornered by the security bots.

"Darn it... I guess I have no choice. Maybe setting off the alarms was a good idea after all." He thought.

With no other options left, Airou took a deep breath, closed his eyes and started to focus. He waited until the robots were close enough before doing anything else. When the robots were close enough, he opened his eyes and thrust his palm towards the oncoming bots. As if an invisible wall of force was pushing against them, the robots froze in place for several moments before slowly disintegrating into a pile of iron fillings.

"Yes! It worked" Airou exclaimed. However, there wasn't any time for comfort. Just as he had expected, the esper power detection sensors went off like crazy. Alarms blared and soon enough more security bots would come after them.

"No rest for the weary, huh? We better find a way out fast." He thought out loud.

After walking for what seemed like hours, they managed to reach the elevator shaft that leads to the surface. They were about to call the elevator when the doors dinged open revealing the doctor himself along with several armed men.

"Where are you going, my little pet. Don't you know it's rude to leave without saying goodbye?" The doctor said to him with a wicked on his face. The sight of him was enough to make Airou's blood boil.

" YOU! What have you done with Shiro!?" Airou asked furiously.

"Oh don't worry about him. He's being prepared for the experiment. You see, the 3 of you have the potential to be 3 of the most powerful Level 5 espers the world has ever seen. There can only be 7 Level 5's in every generation. It is what our studies have concluded. And that upstart couple's daughter is a few steps away from claiming a spot. Now you will participate in the race to determine the 7 Level 5's. The Level 5 Race!" Katsugi declared in a maniacal tone.

"Sorry, doc, but we're not interested." Airou gritted his teeth before turning around, only to come face to face with a squadron of powered suits.

"You really don't understand, Airou. This isn't an offer. You don't have a choice." As if on cue, the mercenaries and the powered suits began their advance towards them.

Airou knew that these guys would stop at nothing to capture them so he need not hold back. Using all if his will power, he attracted everything metal within 5 feet and molded them into several iron marbles. The marbles encircled him and Amane forming a 360 degree line of defense against the assailants. When the first mercenary stepped within his striking radius, he launched an iron marble at him. Upon impact, the mercenary was sent flying into a wall. This seemed to have made the other mercenaries think twice before approaching the two however, the powered suits kept pressing on. It would take more than a few half ton marbles to defeat them. Luckily, he knows exactly how to stop these robots. He scattered several of his iron marbles between him and the powered suits. They all continued advancing in unison but as soon as they stepped on the marbles, the steel spheres transformed into wickedly sharp spikes that impaled the suits causing them to explode simultaneously. He was about to face Dr. Takasura with a triumphant grin but he felt a sharp pain on his neck the moment he destroyed the robots. He touched the part where it hurt the most and felt the shape of a plastic dart protruding from the side of his neck.

Frantically, he pulled it out while still mystified at how the dart penetrated his skin while he hadn't sensed the dart's metal point enter his Metal Detection Radius. That's when Airou realized what caused such anomaly. He saw that the dart's point was made out of hardened and sharpened plastic rather than metal.

"Oh, were you surprised by that little modification? You see, I'm not so much as a fool to use a metal needle when you have the power to detect metal. And as you can see, I had to improvise." Takasura stated with pride at his achievement.

Airou started to feel his body slowly getting limp. He tried to use electricity to control the motor movements of the parts that were already paralyzed but he could barely lift a finger. Whatever tranquilizer the doctor used, it was extremely potent.

"Wha... What are you going to do to us?" He asked as electricity crackled all around him in a stuttering manner.

The doctor seemed to have gotten a lot more amused upon hearing his question. He smiled and slowly approached the two child errors.

"Only what's best for you." He said confidently. Now he was just a few feet away and Airou was already starting to get dizzy. His eyesight began to turn blurry with each passing second and by the time he came face to face with the doctor, his vision darkened before he completely lost consciousness.

Author's Note: Here we'll meet the 3 Child Errors that would be instrumental in the events of the whole series. This chapter is narrated in the perspective of Akaze Airou, and we will get a glimpse of how the darkness began to engulf these 3 unfortunate souls. I won't be able to post the next chapter immediately since I'll be spending a couple of days in the hospital. Though rest assure that I'll post it as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: I do not own To Aru Majutsu no Index nor any other titles linked to it. Credit for this series goes to its original Creator, Kazuma Kamachi