Aaron: Damn, I see why this test is so difficult. It’s no wonder they only accept 10% of the people who take it. I’m surprised that many even pass.

Hayze: Yeah, this is a highly advanced formation we’re looking at. If I had to guess, a substantial chunk of applicants fail simply because they can’t comprehend it.

Ashley: I’m not even sure where we should begin.

Aaron: No matter which one we attack first, there’s no way to stop the others from killing their hostages. Coming up with a strategy could take a while, but unfortunately, we have a time limit to worry about.

Hayze: I’d say we have about 40 minutes left.

Ashley: It’s not looking good; we’ll have to make a decision soon if we want to complete the test in time.

Aaron: Maybe I could injure the main one with a shot to the knee. As long as he’s alive, we’re okay, right?

Ashley: Hayze said they probably have a plan in mind for that.

Aaron: Well, that’s the best idea I have…

Ashley notices Hayze is in deep thought.

Ashley: What are you thinking, Hayze?

Hayze: I’m thinking about what Aaron said earlier: “no matter which one we attack first.” I might have an idea of how we can get around that.

Aaron: What is it?

Hayze: What if we don’t attack any of them first?

Aaron: Huh?

Ashley: What, like attacking them all at once?

Aaron: There’s three of us and three of them, so we could, but everything would have to be timed perfectly, and we have no way of communicating from long distances, if anything is out of order, then the hostages could be killed, or the leader could kill himself and bring the whole building down with him.

Hayze: You’re on the right track, but you’re thinking a little too binary.

Aaron: Binary?

Ashley: What are you getting at Hayze?

Hayze: You assume our first move needs to be an attack on one of them or all of them. But, there’s one option you’re not thinking about.

Aaron: And what might that be?

Hayze: What if our first move isn’t an attack?

Ashley: Hm?

Aaron: Go on.

Hayze: I have a plan in mind that might have a chance of working, it’ll require some setup, but I think it can at least get the hostages saved.

Aaron: Well, I’ve got nothing, so…

Ashley: Yeah, we may barely know each other, but I’ll trust your judgment if you really think your plan will work.

Hayze smiles.

Hayze: Alright, here it is.

Inside one of the rooms, the Multi Clone with the dead man’s trigger stands in front of his seven hostages. He holds just a pistol; his watch starts to beep. His walkie-talkie goes off.

Clone #2: * walkie-talkie* Checking In.

Clone #3: *walkie-talkie* Checking In.

Clone #1: *talking into walkie-talkie* Good, we’ve got just 25 more minutes until the cops meet our demands.

The first clone reaches to reset his watch when suddenly Ashley’s astral form appears through the wall behind him and enters his body.

Clone #1 (Ashley): Okay, I’m in. Now, let’s do this first.

She uses her tongue to feel for loose teeth in the Clone’s mouth. Eventually, finding the tooth, she knocks it out of place carefully and spits it out.

Clone #1 (Ashley): There, now he can’t take himself out.

Ashley reaches for the walkie-talkie.

Clone #1 (Ashley): *into walkie-talkie* Alright, it’s time for the check-in.

Clone #2 is visibly confused while standing with his lone hostage.

Clone #2: *into walkie-talkie* W- what? We- we just did one.

Clone #3: *walkie-talkie* Yeah, what’s going on?

Aaron is sitting outside the second clone’s room, while Hayze stands outside the third clone’s room.

Clone #3: *Into Walkie Talkie* If you don’t answer me, I’m going to shoot my hostage!

Hayze: (There’s the signal.)

Aaron transforms his arm into a Glock and rushes into the room of his clone. As the clone is distracted by Ashley on the walkie-talkie, Aaron shoots the pistol out of his hand. He then charges the Clone and knocks him out in one punch.

Aaron: Gotcha!

Aaron grabs the clone’s button and presses it down.

Aaron: All set.

Hayze creates a fireball in his hands and bursts into the third clone’s room.

Hayze: Take this!

Clone #3: Wh- what!

The fireball slams into the clone and sends him flying into the wall.

Clone #3: *groans*

Hayze walks up to the clone while he’s stunned. He ignites a small flame on his fingertip and places it just beneath the clone’s nose; the smoke enters his nostril and causes him to pass out.

Hayze: All clear.

Hayze powers down; he grabs the clone’s button and presses it down.

Hayze: (Thankfully, that was quick, I might be able to power up again before this exam ends.)

Ashley is starting to sweat.

Clone #1 (Ashley): Come on, guys, I can feel my control waning.

The walkie-talkie goes off.

Hayze: *walkie-talkie* All clear here.

Aaron: *walkie-talkie* Same for me.

Clone #1 (Ashley): *into walkie-talkie* I can’t control him any longer; what should I do?

Aaron: *walkie-talkie* Just turn his gun’s safety on; he won’t notice it because he never turned it on himself.

Hayze: *walkie-talkie* Also, be sure to set his watch back to when you first took over his body. It’ll look like no time has passed that way.

Clone #1 (Ashley): *into walkie-talkie* Okay, I got it.

Ashley turns on the safety and sets his watch. She then releases her control.

Clone #1: Huh?

The clone looks around for a second.

Clone #1: That was strange, it felt like I blacked out, but the time hasn’t changed… strange. I’ll have to keep a sharper eye. I don’t know if that was one of the applicants’ moves or not.

He has a weird feeling but shakes it off and sets the timer on his watch.

Clone #1: (These kids are taking this slower than I ever could have imagined, a lot of time has passed, and we haven’t seen them once. Maybe they’re panicking and can’t figure out what the hell they should do.)

Ashley’s astral form returns to her body as Aaron and Hayze return with the buttons still held down.

Ashley: How much time do we have left?

Aaron: About 20 minutes, which is plenty of time.

Ashley: With his safety on, we should be able to walk in there, catch him off guard and take him out, right?

Hayze: Yeah… but there is one thing that we haven’t come up with a plan for yet.

Aaron: We don’t know how to get the detonator off of him without triggering the bomb and failing this exam instantly.

Hayze: We also have only a few minutes until he checks in with his fellow clones and realizes what’s going on. So, we have to act fast.

The three of them are quiet for a few moments.

Aaron: Well, no matter what we decide, it starts with us walking in there and throwing this last clone for a loop. So, I say we just get that done right now.

Hayze: That’s true; it doesn’t matter if we come up with a plan before or after, so we might as well make that move quickly.

Ashley: I agree.

The clone’s timer goes off. Clone #1 holds his walkie-talkie up, but neither of the other clones check-in. He smiles.

Clone #1: I guess they were able to take out the others without releasing the pressure on their buttons. Clever.

He points his gun at one of the hostages.

Clone #1: But not clever enough!

He attempts to pull the trigger, but it doesn’t work.

Clone #1: What the hell?

He inspects his gun and sees the safety is on.

Clone #1: Huh? When did that-

Aaron, Ashley, and Hayze rush in; the clone tries to quickly turn the safety off his gun, but Aaron uppercuts him.

Aaron: Who needs natural strength when your arms are made out of metal!

Clone #1: *groans*

Aaron grabs the clone and wrestles him to the ground, tying his arm with the detonator to his back.

Ashley: Okay, now that we have him restrained, what’s the plan?

Aaron: Rip his arm off and hope the pulse stays?

Ashley: That doesn’t seem smart.

Aaron: Well, it’s the best idea I’ve got.

Hayze stares at the detonator for a few moments.

Hayze: I might have a plan, but we’re going to be cutting our time close.

Ashley: What is it?

Hayze: All we need to do is remove the detonator from him and put it on someone else; the police can defuse the bomb more effectively if the person with the detonator on them isn’t trying to kill themselves.

Ashley: But if we take it off him, the heartbeat monitor will hit 0 and trigger the bomb.

Hayze: Not if we simulate a heartbeat.

Ashley: Simulate a heartbeat?

Aaron: What are you getting at?

Hayze: A heartbeat is triggered by an electrical impulse in the body, so if we simply jolt the monitor with electricity, we can trick it into thinking it’s still attached to someone. I can do this easily using my quirk.

Ashley: That’s a good idea!

Aaron: Yeah… but what’s the catch?

Ashley: Catch?

Aaron: He said, “we’re going to be cutting our time close” what does that mean?

Ashley: Oh, right, yeah…

Hayze: As I said earlier, my quirk has a recharge period before I can use it again, and I just used it probably about 5 minutes ago, but that was only for a short burst. Usually, the cooldown lasts about half an hour, but hopefully, I can use it again sooner.

Aaron: I see…

Ashley: How much time do we have left?

Hayze: Let’s find out.

Hayze looks at the proctor’s camera.

Hayze: How much time is remaining?

Proctor: *through speaker* Approximately 16 minutes and 29 seconds. You have one question remaining.

Aaron: So, that means we have about a 15-minute cushion for your quirk to recharge.

Hayze: Yeah… it’ll be close.

Ashley: Well, I don’t really have any ideas of my own.

Aaron: Neither do I, so I guess we have no choice.

Hayze: You both are okay with risking it all like this?

Aaron laughs.

Aaron: I applied to this school to become a hero, one of the best there will ever be. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my short life, it’s that you have to take some risks if you want to reach the top. If this works, we’ll pass this test with zero casualties and be one step closer to being students at the number one hero prep school in the country? I’d say it’s worth it.

Hayze looks at Ashley.

Hayze: What about you?

Ashley: To be honest, I don’t really feel that comfortable with it, but I didn’t expect to get this far in the first place. I needed multiple tries to pass the H.A.E., so my expectations were guarded when I arrived for this exam. However, the fact we’re this close to being among that 10% that get accepted into U.A. is so thrilling. If this is what it takes to finish this exam, then I’m okay with it.

Hayze: Right, then I guess we’re waiting out the clock.

The three of them wait patiently as time ticks down.

Hayze: Alright, I think it’s time.

Aaron looks at the proctor’s camera.

Aaron: How much time do we have left?

Proctor: *through speaker* Approximately 1 minute and 57 seconds. You are now out of questions.

Hayze: Alright, it’s time.

Ashley: Here’s hoping.

Hayze closes his eyes and concentrates for a moment; he opens them to show his irises have turned yellow. Hayze breathes a sigh of relief.

Hayze: (I didn’t tell them I barely practiced with this quirk, but I believe I’m capable of doing what’s needed.)

Aaron: Alright, let’s get this done.

Hayze: Do you mind being the one that I move the detonator on to? I’d put it on myself, but that’s not going to work if I’m concentrating on streaming electricity.

Aaron: It’s okay; it’s just a detonator, not a real bomb.

Hayze: Okay, Ashley, you take off the trigger while I stream electricity into it.

Ashley: Got it.

Hayze: (I hope I can control the electricity well enough. Otherwise, It’s all over)

Hayze starts to put electricity through the heartbeat monitor, Ashley carefully removes it, and they start to slowly move it up toward Aaron’s upper arm. Slowly but surely, everything is tense as everything has to go right at this moment. Eventually, they reach Aaron’s upper arm, and Ashley straps the trigger onto him.

Hayze: You guys ready?

Aaron: Now or never, I guess.

Hayze stops putting electricity into the trigger… a few moments pass, suddenly, a smoke bomb goes off in the corner of the room.

Aaron: Damn it! I knew I should have just shot everyone!

The proctor walks out.

Proctor: Well, well, well.

Aaron: I blame Hayze for this loss.

Proctor: Congratulations, you passed the entrance exam.

Aaron: I take full credit for this win.

The three-look surprised.

Ashley: Wait, really?

Proctor: Now, don’t get ahead of yourselves… you’ve passed the test, but your performance will be judged against every other passing student. None, one, two, or all of you could become U.A. students. I’ll say it’s not often I see a group save not only all nine hostages and not kill a single villain. You figured out the major loophole with this riddle. They formed a solid defense where if one prong falls, another will kill their hostage/hostages. This defense would have been impossible to stop if it were a triangle where attacking one would alert the other two. Still, you realized they’re actually aligned in a V. If you cut off the connecting piece, the other two can’t help each other, making them easy pickings. Now, it wasn’t all perfect... You took the entire time to finish, which will cost you some points, and you also figured out the biggest problem, the dead man’s trigger, last. I’ll be honest, almost 60% of the people who take this test fail because of that trigger. It takes a lot of brainpower and versatility, good work. You’re free to head home. In the next few days, you’ll be informed of your status with U.A.

The three walk out of the building.

Ashley: Hey, great work guys, I didn’t think I would pass this exam, and thanks to you guys, I was able to, so thank you.

Hayze: We leaned heavily on your quirk; you helped out a lot. It was a team effort.

Aaron: What he said.

Ashley: Thanks guys, I hope to see you on the first day of school!

Hayze: Cya, Ashley.

Aaron: Bye.

Ashley leaves.

Hayze: I guess I’ll be heading out too; it was nice meeting you, Aaron.

Hayze starts to leave.

Aaron: Hayze, I want to apologize.

Hayze stops.

Hayze: For what?

Aaron: When you said you were inexperienced with your quirk, I underestimated you. I thought you would be dead weight. I was wrong, and I’m sorry about that.

Hayze: Don’t worry, I’m used to it. Well, being doubted, that is.

Aaron: That doesn’t make it right; you came up with a plan that worked perfectly in such a short time. I do consider myself a leader, but you took charge there. Don’t get too used to it, though.

Hayze: Huh?

Aaron: I know you’ll get into U.A. based on how we did in our exam, but if I make it in, I look forward to the day we fight each other; it will be a good battle, but trust me, I’ll win.

Aaron walks off.

Hayze: (Was that supposed to be a compliment or challenge? Either way, he seems like a good guy.)

The scene pans up towards the sky as the three go their separate ways. A few days later, Hayze walks up to his mailbox and sees a letter from U.A. He looks at it with animosity. He brings it inside and lays it down on the table.

Hayze: (Aaron thought I’d make it in for sure, but I’m not certain of that, sure I came up with our plan, but what if that wasn’t enough?)

A few moments pass as Hayze stares at the letter.

Hayze: (Screw it.)

Hayze opens it, and a holographic video message plays. Fatal appears in the video.

Fatal (Video): Well, wouldn’t you know, Hayze, you got this far. Are you ready to go a little farther? I’ll cut right to the good news; congratulations… You’ve been accepted into U.A.’s Hero Course as a part of class 1-A.

Hayze: Wow, that’s-

Fatal (Video): Don’t interrupt this video of me! Now that you’re weirded out that I predicted that. It’s time that we talk about your performance in the entrance exam; you took a leadership role in your group and came up with a solid plan that allowed you to save every single hostage, impressive. As a group, you got 10 points for each hostage you saved and 10 points for not blowing the building up, for a total of 100 points. You also got 20 extra points for not killing any villains, but you lost 10 points for taking the whole hour and another 10 for cutting so close with the detonator. Therefore, your grade started with 100 points, you earned 10 points for being your team’s leader, but you lost 5 of those points for making a plan with such an obvious flaw. Furthermore, your quirk’s weakness cost you 20 points; your team had to lean right up against the time limit because of you. That left you with 85 points, but your proctor gave you high praises for the way you guys were able to rally together and get behind your plan so quickly, so you got 12 bonus points, so you finished with a 97; I look forward to seeing you during your first day of U.A. Good work.

The message ends. Hayze is silent for a few seconds.

Hayze: (Well… it happened… I’m actually a student at U.A., and I’m probably gonna be the weakest one in my class. A few months ago, I never thought this would be possible, but here I am, and I can’t wait to get to work; I will be a hero, and nothing's gonna stop me.)