Medics enter the arena with stretchers to transport Aaron, Wes, Demetri, Zach, and Alden to the nurse’s office. Walker opens a portal and walks through it; a portal then opens in the stands, and Walker walks out of it, facing the rest of the class.
Walker:
Alright, I hope by now you’ve realized at least some of the aspects of this lesson, and trust me, it wasn’t just an excuse to pummel those five.
Karma raises her hand.
Walker:
Yes, Karma.
Karma:
Well, the obvious first lesson is when you asked us who believed they could injure you; if every one of us had stepped forward, we surely could have accomplished it.
Walker:
Exactly. I want you to remember that you aren’t a team unless the exercise or event says otherwise. You should be looking out for yourself; you can't let others drag you down, but remember, heroes must work together to overpower much stronger enemies. It may have been a stretch, but if those five had coordinated more with each other, they might have completed the task. After all, the closest they got was when they used combination attacks.
Justus:
They also failed to take note of the weaknesses of your quirk, you never once opened two portals at once, and each hand represented which type of portal would open; Left meant you were throwing something out, and right meant you were bringing something in.
Walker:
Precisely, observation is the key to success on a battlefield, especially when going up against an opponent who has seen your quirk in action while you've never seen theirs. You could have learned more lessons, but I won't hold your hand through all of this. Head back to the classroom; the rest of your day will be regular classes… well, except for your hero class with another of our teachers, The Strength Hero: Femme Fatal. Good Luck with the rest of your day.
Walker leaves.
Lilith:
We’re gonna learn from Femme Fatal!
Eve:
That sounds awesome! I was hoping we would get to meet some heroines.
The group starts to head back, Hayze and Ash walk together.
Ash:
So, the fight wasn’t just to intimidate us?
Hayze:
Well, that was definitely part of it, but he is a teacher. There has to be some moral to the story… I guess.
Ash:
It’s too bad for those guys; those injuries looked really bad.
Hayze:
They should be back up, and at 'em tomorrow, I heard U.A. has a Nurse with a powerful healing quirk. She apparently can heal you almost instantaneously.
Ash:
Oh wow, I bet that helps the teachers go all out with us.
Hayze:
Well, I don’t think Mr. Walker was going all out there, but he didn’t take the fight lightly; he wanted everyone to know that fights here are as real as they can be.
Ash:
I like it that way though, it’s the best way for us to get the experience we need to be real heroes!
Hayze:
Yeah, I’m sure Alden would disagree with you, though.
Ash laughs. Later in the day, the class minus the five from the fight are in their classroom seats. No teacher is in the classroom.
Jace:
Man, these academic classes are rough; I hardly understood anything Mr. Walker said about Calculus.
Isaiah:
Yeah, I didn’t even learn Pre-Calculus; how am I supposed to get just regular Calculus?
Hayze:
(It’s probably a bad thing they didn’t test us on our academics that hard.)
Suddenly, a hand is placed on Hayze’s shoulder. Hayze looks up to see Kevin.
Kevin:
Hey, I’m Kevin!
Hayze:
Uh, hey…
Kevin:
Yeah, you probably don’t remember me. I took the Quirk Test right after you at the H.A.E. I saw what you did to that “undamageable” wall. You must be pretty strong.
Hayze:
I’d… maybe?
Kevin laughs.
Kevin:
Don’t worry, strong people are cool in my book, but I gotta ask, how did you do it?
Hayze:
Oh, uh, I didn’t really have temperature control down all the way on my fire quirk at the time, so I-
Kevin:
Wait, what? You can't fully control your quirk? Shouldn't you have figured that out by now?
Hayze:
No, honestly, the full extent of my quirk didn’t manifest until recently. (It’s a lie, but it’s decently believable considering the nature of my quirk.)
Kevin:
Huh, never heard of that, and you still got here, impressive.
Hayze:
I have basic control now, but not to the level where I’d be comfortable fighting Mr. Walker.
Kevin:
That makes sense. I didn’t want to fight him because I did some training yesterday that took a lot out of me, and I didn’t want to fight him less than 100%. I don’t regret the decision considering what happened to that Alden guy.
Hayze:
Yeah, I mean Aaron was hit by a howitzer cannon with twice the boom to it, and somehow, I prefer that to what happened to Alden.
Kevin:
Agreed.
The door to the classroom opens. Alden comes walking in on crutches. He seems visibly exhausted.
Jace:
Hey man, you doing okay?
Alden:
Yeah… the nurse healed my wounds, but she couldn't fix the emotional trauma… or swelling.
Eve:
We didn’t need to hear that.
Angel:
Look at the bright side; at least you won't miss the hero training.
Alden:
Yay….
Alden closes the door and starts crutching to his seat when suddenly the door is smashed down on top of him with Fatal standing on it.
Fatal:
Alright, kiddos, it’s time for your first day of hero training!
They all look on in horror as Alden is wedged beneath the door. Fatal notices.
Fatal:
Well… that’s unfortunate.
Alden:
*sobs* Why me…
After Alden has been rescued from beneath the door, everyone takes their seats as Fatal stands at the podium.
Fatal:
I'm sure most of you know me as the Strength Hero: Femme Fatal! I'll be your hero course teacher, and we're going to have your first hero exercises today! Unfortunately, your homeroom teacher Mr. Walker took four of you out of commission, so those slackers will have to catch up some other day. The 16 of you will draw sticks to determine your groups. They're labeled A through H, so there will be 8 groups of 2. Four groups will compete against each other in this exercise, so we’ll run it twice. A, B, C, and D will be one set, and the other will be E, F, G, H, but before that…
Fatal runs out in the hallway and rolls in a stack of 20 briefcases.
Fatal:
All of you suit up in your new hero costumes!
Everyone’s eyes light up.
Zach:
Woah! Our hero costumes!
Jace:
Are you for real?
Fatal:
Yup, we sent your designs to the third-year support class, and they made your dreams a reality. Each briefcase is labeled with your name on it. You’re only allowed to wear these during hero training, so you’ll have to return them after class. Anyway, suit up and head to Training Field A!
The 16 students arrive in their hero costumes to the Training Field, one of the cityscapes used for the entrance exams. Fatal stands in front of them.
Fatal:
Alright, looking good! Now let’s determine the groups, and I’ll explain what’s going to happen.
Fatal holds out a box with 16 sticks sticking out of it, one by one. Each student takes one.
Group A: Ashley and Isaiah
Group B: Blair and Justus
Group C: Alden and Jake
Group D: Jace and Silver
Group E: Hayze and Eve
Group F: Gus and Kevin
Group G: Karma and Lilith
Group H: Alexis and Angel
Fatal:
Okay! The way this exercise will work is that you’ll all be put in different corners of a skyscraper, you can enter in any way you want, but no fighting can happen while outside the tower. Your goal is to be the first team to secure a briefcase located somewhere in the building. You can fight to your heart’s content, but if you tie someone up with some capture tape, they’re out for the rest of the exercise, so pick your fights wisely. Once you exit the building with the briefcase, you win. Also, both teammates do not have to be present. The extraction zone is at the front of the building, got it?
Everyone nods.
Fatal:
For fun, let’s start with groups E, F, G, H. Each of you take a corner, and you’ll have five minutes to strategize.
Alexis and Angel take one corner of the building.
Angel:
I can carry you with my wings to the top of the building, then we can safely search the upper levels without worrying about finding the other teams for a little while.
Alexis:
Good idea. It’s probably best to avoid conflict while searching for the briefcase, the other groups aren’t that physical, but we shouldn’t test our luck.
Angel:
Agreed.
Cut to Kevin and Gus.
Kevin:
I say we go after them quickly and knock everyone out; searching for the briefcase will be like looking for a needle in a haystack. If we take the other teams out, we’ll win anyway.
Gus:
If that's what you want to do, I'll just follow your lead. We're the only all-male team, so this shouldn't be too hard.
Cut to Karma and Lilith.
Karma:
We’re the fastest team because of our quirks, so we can search much quicker than everyone else, so let’s avoid the fight and search for the case. There is no need to take anyone down.
Lilith:
Um, yeah, that sounds good. I don't think I could do too much in a fight anyway.
Cut to Eve and Hayze. They’re standing in awkward silence.
Hayze:
So…
Eve:
Okay, before you make the joke, yes, I know your first name is Adam. If you say anything, I will magnetize your face to the ground.
Hayze:
Alright, point taken. But maybe we should think of a strategy?
Eve:
I’d rather not.
Hayze:
Why? We need a plan if we want to stand a chance.
Eve:
Sorry, let me rephrase that. I’d rather not strategize with you.
Hayze:
Wh- why?
Eve:
I heard you talking to that other girl, Ash, and Kevin too. I know you don't have full control over your quirk, so try not to be dead weight, okay? That's your strategy. I can come up with a real plan.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Hayze:
Alright… (This is gonna go about as well as could be expected.)
Fatal and the other 8 students are watching from a control room with cameras to follow the teams.
Fatal:
Interesting assortment of strategies: strength, speed, evasion, and no plan. (Alright, Hayze, this is your first challenge, show your classmates that you aren't a liability. Otherwise, this treatment is gonna get you knocked out of the hero course.)
Isaiah:
Man, that Eve girl seems like a bitch.
Blair:
Hey, don’t call her that! I’m sure you’d be pissed if you got paired with a guy still on his quirk training wheels.
Ash:
She really should put more faith in him. I won’t lie; I had similar reservations about working with Hayze in the entrance exam, but he proved me wrong quick.
Justus:
Well, it’s sink or swim for him now.
Silver:
My bet is on Kevin and Gus, they’re the strongest team there, and Kevin has a point about the briefcase being way too hard to find. That building is like 70 stories with a ton of rooms; this could take a while.
A loud horn goes off inside the arena. Angel and Alexis take flight toward the top of the building. Kevin and Gus storm the front entrance, Eve runs toward the side entrance with Hayze behind her, and Lilith and Karma head towards the back entrance. Once inside, Eve slows down and starts walking; Hayze catches up to her.
Hayze:
We should be careful. Angel and Lilith can fly, so both of those teams could be on the roof. That means we have the best chance of running into Kevin and Gus, and they seem pretty strong.
Eve:
I know, I’m looking for them. If we beat them early, we can guard the entrance until one of the other teams with the briefcase shows up; we beat them and win.
Hayze:
Okay, but what if they flew down from the roof and landed in front of the building. What’s the plan, then?
Eve:
Look, don’t question me, okay? I worked a lot harder than you did to get here.
Hayze:
Oh, is that why you’re acting like I’m a shackle around your ankle? Because you think that I got here without any work?
Eve turns around, and they stop walking.
Eve:
The other 19 of us, even that loser Alden, had to take time to master our quirks to even think about getting into this school, and then you just chat with Kevin about how you can’t control yours? It’s annoying; it makes me feel like my hard work was for nothing.
Hayze:
That’s really it?
Eve:
What do you have something to say about it?
Hayze:
Yeah, maybe you should get to know somebody before acting like you know everything about them. Based on the 10 minutes that I've had to interact with you, I could say you're one of the worst people I've ever met, but I don't think that because judging someone based on a single interaction, let alone one that I eavesdropped on, is just plain dumb.
Eve:
Oh, so now you’re insulting me?
Hayze:
That’s what you got out of that?
Eve:
No, what I got was-
Gus:
Tear Gas Attack!
Eve:
Wait, what?
Suddenly a bunch of tear gas fills the hallway Eve and Hayze are standing in.
Eve:
Dammit! I let you distract me!
Hayze:
Really? Now, of all times, you're doing this?
Eve pushes Hayze with her left hand and runs off; Hayze follows. Eve and then Hayze emerge at the end of the smoke, with Eve coughing badly.
Hayze:
Are you alright?
Eve:
Shut up, I’m fine!
Kevin:
Not for long!
Kevin comes rushing at them out of nowhere and punches Hayze in the face, pushing him back into the smoke.
Kevin:
Sorry, guys, but you drew the short straw. This is where it ends for you!
Eve:
That’s what you think!
Eve taps Kevin with her right hand. Kevin attempts to hit her, but she lunges back.
Kevin:
What was that?
Eve:
One of the side effects of increased adrenaline is increased breathing rates meaning that toxic gases will affect you faster!
Kevin:
I’m not heading into the gas! Do you think I’m that stupid?
Eve:
It’s not your choice!
Suddenly Kevin gets pulled into the smoke. Hayze is standing there waiting for him, his eyes illuminated yellow.
Kevin:
(Fuck! They had a plan after all!)
Hayze:
Electric Field!
Hayze covers himself with electricity. Kevin is driven right into Hayze, electrocuting him. Kevin recoils back and falls to his knees, coughing up a storm.
Kevin:
(The electrocution canceled Eve’s magnetic fields she placed on us, and my Adrenaline shielded me from the pain of the electricity, but this tear gas is hitting me hard!) You’ve been in this gas for so long! How are you still standing?
Hayze:
In my base form, my healing is faster, so I process the toxins quicker, meaning I can stay in here a little longer than an ordinary person!
Hayze starts coughing.
Hayze:
(But now that I’m in my electricity form, the gas is gonna hit me just as hard as it hit Eve.)
Kevin:
*Coughing up a storm* How… did… you come up with the strategy? You were arguing when we attacked!
Hayze:
Before… we ran out of the smoke… she pushed me… I knew she would send you my way… she was hoping I would be able to handle you on my own.
Kevin:
Ha… Damn, I knew you would be a tough customer, but intentionally letting me hit you back into the smoke is more challenging than I would have thought you were capable of! Gus! Help me!
Gus comes running through the smoke and helps Kevin up; they run in the opposite direction. Hayze falls to his knees and tries to get up, he starts to feel himself passing out, but Eve comes back in and grabs him. They get out of the smoke. Eve helps Hayze sit down.
Eve:
Don’t read into this, it’s a team exercise, so I might as well try to keep you around. You must have done a number to Kevin if he was calling for Gus’ help.
Hayze:
Yeah, he had it worse than me; his adrenaline quirk and Gus’ smoke quirk aren’t that compatible. We might be able to use that to our advantage again.
Angel and Alexis are searching room by room and are onto the fourth floor from the roof.
Alexis:
Maybe we should skip to the middle of the building; it’s probably not up here to avoid giving students with flying abilities an advantage.
Angel:
Yeah, you’re probably right. Let’s head down the elevator shaft.
Karma and Lilith have quickly reached the middle floors using their quirks.
Karma:
I haven't found it yet, but it has to be here. Angel and Alexis would have seen it by now and won if it was on the top floors.
Lilith:
But what if they tried to enter the middle of the building? Just because they can fly doesn’t mean they have to go to the roof.
Karma:
Yeah, you might be right, which means it could be anywhere. Maybe we should head downstairs and look around a few floors lower.
Lilith:
Okay, that sounds good.
Out of nowhere, many feathers hit Karma on the side, knocking her down, Lilith is shocked, but Karma uses her quirk to rewind herself by three seconds.
Karma:
Lilith, run!
Lilith:
Wha- uh sure!
They start running off down the hallway, but many papers begin to form a wall in front of them, creating a dead-end.
Karma:
(Damn! We aren’t strong enough to win a fight, and we ran into the only team I don’t have a strategy for avoiding!)
Lilith:
Wha- wha- what do we do, Karma?
Karma:
I don’t know. I didn’t prepare for running into them first.
Angel:
Well, you should have, we knew your quirks wouldn’t be suitable for combat, and Alexis’ Paper Manipulation Quirk makes for a great trap; we were hoping to find you two.
Karma:
(I could have escaped by accelerating my time, but I would have been forced to leave Lilith behind… but maybe I should have… dammit, I should have gone with my gut.) So, where is Alexis? She has to be somewhere.
Angel:
You'll find out after I capture you.
Karma:
Not on my watch!
Karma accelerates herself and lands a quick punch on Angel, but he uses his wings to stay upright.
Angel:
You can’t win a one on one against me!
Angel punches Karma, she starts to fall back, but before she hits the ground, a bunch of Alexis’ paper straps her to the ground; Alexis walks out.
Karma:
How do you have this much paper?
Alexis:
My costume comes with a jacket made out of industrial-strength paper; it’s gonna be hard for you to get out of that bind.
Karma:
Lilith, shrink down and run! You can still win on your own!
Lilith:
Wha- um, yes, I’ll do that!
Lilith shrinks down to the size of a butterfly and starts to fly off. Angel tries to go after her, but Alexis stops him.
Alexis:
Don’t worry, I’ve got this.
A swarm of little origami birds starts to flock up and follows Lilith. Angel ties Karma up with the capture tape.
Fatal:
*Over an intercom* Karma from Group G has been captured!
Hayze and Eve are looking through some of the rooms.
Hayze:
Damn, that means Lilith is on her own.
Eve:
Yeah, considering the shape you and Kevin are in, that makes Alexis and Angel the favorites to win this.
Hayze:
Speaking of Kevin, I can’t imagine he’s too far; he’s probably almost ready to attack again.
Eve starts to hear a strange sound.
Eve:
Do you hear that?
Hayze:
Hear what?
The sound gets a little louder.
Eve:
That.
Hayze:
Yeah, now that you mention it, it’s like a high-pitched scream?
Eve:
Let’s go out to the hall.
They walk out into the hall to see a miniature Lilith being chased by a swarm of origami birds.
Hayze:
Huh.
Eve:
Well, we know who took out Karma now.
Hayze:
Should we run?
Eve:
No, try and shoot a lightning bolt at Lilith!
Hayze:
Uh, I mean, sure? She kind of looks tied up, but hey, it can’t hurt.
Hayze charges up a lightning bolt and fires it in Lilith’s direction, but it misses and turns the origami birds to Ash.
Lilith:
Thanks, Hayze!
Lilith flies off. Eve looks at Hayze.
Hayze:
In my defense, have you ever seen a lightning bolt go straight?
Eve:
I hate you.
Hayze:
Was that not already established?
Eve:
Whatever, I think at this point we should just go back to the front entrance and wait for Alexis and Angel to show up.
Hayze:
And what if they fly down from the roof?
Eve:
Then you need to learn how to fire a lightning bolt straight.
Hayze:
Of course…
Eve starts walking away.
Eve:
Let’s go.
Hayze:
Hey, I’ve been thinking about something…
Eve:
What? Dropping out?
Hayze:
No, remember Ms. Fatal said that we can win simply by leaving the building with the briefcase, but then she pointed to an extraction zone… why?
Eve:
Because that’s where you’re supposed to bring the briefcase, duh.
Hayze:
No, she just said we have to leave the building with it. The only reason she would mention the front entrance of the building would be because-
Eve:
Because that would be the closest exit after finding the case! It has to be on the bottom floor right by the front entrance then! Let’s go!
The two head down to the bottom floor, but Kevin and Gus are sitting, waiting near the front entrance when they arrive there.
Gus:
Kevin, they don’t have the case; we don’t have to fight them again.
Kevin:
It doesn’t make sense for them to come back here without the case; they have to be up to something!
Hayze:
What are you doing here then?
Eve:
Maybe we just wanted to kick your ass again.
Kevin:
Funny, you used our own strategy against me, but we’ve prepared this time, now Gus!
Gus:
On it.
Gus clicks a button on his costume, releasing dark black smoke all around Hayze and Eve.
Gus:
My costume allows me to breathe my smoke into remote detonatable canisters; you’re now in volcano smoke.
Kevin:
If they’re here, they must think the case is around here!
Gus:
Yeah, we can capture them and then get them to tell us where it is!
Kevin:
Alright, clear the smoke on my signal, now let’s get them!
Kevin and Gus start running toward the smoke as Hayze fires a lightning bolt out at them. It misses by a long shot due to him not being able to see clearly.
Hayze:
(Dammit! I’m running out of time before I have to power down, we have to finish this quickly.)
Hayze starts running at Kevin and Gus; Kevin begins to wind back a punch; Hayze does the same as he emerges from the smoke; the two are lunging at each other. Then, a loud air horn goes off.
Fatal:
*Over the Intercom* AND THE TEAM OF LILITH AND KARMA WINS!
Hayze and Kevin stop in midair and fall to the ground.
Kevin and Hayze:
WHAT!
Lilith is standing outside with the briefcase in hand.
Lilith:
Sorry, Hayze, but I kind of eavesdropped on your theory. The case was on the bottom floor, so I waited for your teams to distract each other, and I snuck out with it.
Eve punches Hayze in the back of the head.
Eve:
LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!
Hayze:
HOW IS THAT MY FAULT? YOU DIDN’T LOOK FOR HER EITHER!
Kevin:
Damn, and I thought our plan was foolproof; I guess I forgot about Lilith’s ability to shrink down to the size of a butterfly, huh?
Cut to Karma, Angel, and Alexis.
Karma:
We won?
Alexis:
Aw man, and we were doing so good too!
Angel:
You win some, you lose some, I guess.
Cut to Fatal and the rest of the class in the control room.
Fatal:
(He may have lost, but he held his own, and that's what is crucial for him in the early stages of his time at U.A… I'm also impressed by Kevin's ability to persevere after his plan was foiled so early on and by Lilith's ingenuity to go on without her partner and not give up. Eve had some quick thinking when Kevin and Gus ambushed her, and Alexis and Angel showed great teamwork. Even though Karma was captured, she sacrificed herself for her teammate, and it paid off in the end. This group of kids has some potential; I wonder if all of them are like this because if so, Damien might just have the strongest group of students to come to this school since our class; I just hope they don't end up like our class… for their sake.)
