Adrian approaches the training ground, where he sees Hayze sitting against the rock.

Adrian: I assume you’re lounging around because you got it.

Hayze stands up and brushes himself off.

Hayze: Of course, I never back down from a challenge.

Adrian: Alright, then show me what you can do.

Hayze’s eyes change to gray, he holds out his right hand.

Hayze: Once again, I couldn’t produce the same results as you. This time I was having trouble keeping a perfect circle in the palm of my hand. It kept losing its shape and breaking. I knew I wouldn’t get this right by copying what you did.

Hayze places his left pointer finger in the center of his palm. The wind starts circulating around his finger until it forms a perfect circle.

Hayze: You said that the daggers make the process easier because it provides me a point to concentrate the circulation around. That gave me this idea.

Adrian: Good work, but what happens when you remove your finger?

Hayze removes his finger, and the wind circle maintains its shape.

Hayze: Ever since I started using this method, I’ve been working on keeping the circle in the proper shape. With enough time, I'm sure I can produce the attack without the need for my finger as a point of focus.

Adrian: Alright, that’s all fine and dandy, but now comes the most crucial step.

Hayze: Oh, don’t worry about that.

Hayze faces the rock, winds back his hand, and palms it. When the mini hurricane makes contact with the boulder, it creates a loud boom, pushing the rock back about half an inch. Hayze’s eyes return to normal.

Adrian: Well, it looks like you’ve got it down, it’s not as powerful as mine, but practice makes perfect.

Hayze: Wanna hear my name for it?

Adrian: Huh, name?

Hayze: Yeah, you’ve gotta name your attacks! That’s like half the fun!

Adrian: Oh, okay… what is it?

Hayze: Typhoon Boom.

Adrian: Needs work.

Hayze: Hey! I’m proud of that!

Adrian: *sighs* (He’s young, Adrian, let him have his fun.) Let’s move on to the next lesson.

Adrian holds out his hand.

Adrian: You know the drill.

Hayze taps Adrian’s hand.

Adrian: Thanks, now it’s time for your most experienced element: Fire.

Adrian’s eyes change to red, and a flame manifests in the palm of his hand.

Adrian: It’s time you got some more firepower into your arsenal, pun unintended.

Hayze: I don’t believe you.

Adrian: Up to this point, you’ve only used your fire to create objects: fireballs and arrows. But if you want to unlock this element’s true potential, you’re going to have to start expanding its application.

Hayze: And how do you propose I do that?

Adrian: Simple, you’re gonna make this quirk into the flamethrower it was meant to be.

Adrian points his palm upward. Then, he shoots a beam of fire into the sky.

Adrian: This element allows you to create flames, but only from the palms of your hands, which is fine. If you’re able to master creating different kinds of fire, then this could become your jack-of-all-trades, so to speak. Lightning was all about striking speed. Wind revolved around attacking force, and fire will focus on striking versatility.

Hayze: What do you mean by different types of fire exactly?

Adrian: There’s a difference between a fireball and a fire beam.

Hayze: They looked the same, but they were just different shapes.

Adrian: And there’s the keyword: shapes. A beam doesn’t have a shape. You’ve been so focused on object-oriented creation that you didn’t consider other options.

Hayze: Okay... you know... that’s fair.

Adrian: I’ll be a little bit more hands-on with my training today. We’re running under a tight schedule. It’s already Sunday, so in 6 days, this internship will end, and we still have three of your elements to get through.

Hayze: Right.

Adrian: Now you give it a try.

Hayze: Alright.

Adrian: Start by creating fire in your hand.

Hayze’s eyes change to red, a flame manifests in the palm of his hand.

Hayze: (I can use my quirk again because I barely used my wind element before.)

Adrian: Now try to fire it into the sky.

Hayze shoots the fireball into the sky; it dissipates as it flies upward.

Adrian: Not good.

Hayze: How were you able to make the fire shoot outward?

Adrian: How about you make the fireball again.

Hayze: Okay.

Hayze recreates the fireball.

Adrian: Now look at it and tell me what you think about it.

Hayze: What?

Adrian: Tell me everything that goes through your head when you look at that ball.

Hayze: Uh… okay…

Hayze stares at the fireball.

Hayze: It’s hot… it’s a ball-

Adrian: Stop right there. Remember what I told you earlier: you’re not limited to object-oriented attacks. Tell me what you did that shot the ball into the sky.

Hayze: I used an outward motion to push it forward, but all that did was send the ball flying.

Adrian: You’ve got the right idea, but you made a fundamental mistake.

Hayze: And what’s that?

Adrian: Maybe it’s because I got you used to maintaining shape and consistency in the last two training exercises, this time, you’re doing the opposite of that.

Hayze: Hm?

Adrian: You were subconsciously trying to maintain the shape of the fire that you created. You have to stop thinking about that if you want this to work. So here, let’s reset.

Hayze: Okay?

Hayze dispels the fireball in his hand.

Adrian: I’ll change my phrasing this time, so maybe you’ll get what I’m saying a little better: make some fire in your hand.

Hayze: Isn’t that literally just what I was doing?

Adrian: Yes, but it’s about the mindset.

Hayze: I don’t get what you mean by that…

Adrian holds out both of his hands.

Adrian: Now, watch closely.

In Adrian’s left hand, a loose flame forms. In his right, a fireball forms.

Adrian: I can make the beam of fire with either of these, but that’s because I have the right mindset: fire is what I want it to be. You’re restricting yourself with your own preconceived notions about how this element works, and it’s blocking you from reaching your full potential. You’re running into a wall over and over again, wondering how you’re supposed to get through it when you can simply walk around it. Fire has no restrictions; fire is wild and deadly, but you can control it.

Adrian shoots both the flames into beams.

Adrian: Now try again.

Hayze looks down at his hand.

Hayze: (I think I’m starting to get the picture… if my own mental block is stopping me from reaching my full potential, then I need to break through it.)

A spark of flame forms in Hayze’s hand.

Hayze: (The whole way I’ve used this quirk has stemmed from that first night, but this training has taught me that I need to think deeper into the way my quirk can be used.)

“ Fatal: Always remember one thing: It’s not about the quirk; it’s about the person who wields the quirk. “ - Chapter 3

Hayze: (Look at Silver, Aaron, Kevin, and Justus. They all found ways to make their quirk better because they understand their quirks better than anyone else. I need to do that if I want to reach the next level.)

A loose flame forms in Hayze's hand.

Hayze: (Besides, if there’s one thing I’ve learned since the day Dr. Moore gave me this quirk: I can do anything I put my mind to.)

Hayze points the flame towards the sky and shoots off a beam of fire into the air. Adrian watches with a smile on his face.

Adrian: Nice job.

Hayze: I’ve got a good teacher.

Adrian: (I gotta say, he can be frustrating at times, but he works his ass off and has a can-do attitude. Not gonna lie, I’m kind of enjoying this, and I didn’t think I would.) Alright, now for some more practice.

Hayze: Right.

Hayze and Adrian continue training until the sky turns orange. They then head back to Adrain’s house.

Adrian: (Well, that was a successful day, it’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so that would mean that water would make the most sense for Monday, Tuesday will be the last element. Then we’ll have 4 more days left for practice. Maybe I could contact Ewing and see if a nearby hero will take Hayze on patrol. I’d like him to get at least a taste of what that’s like.)

Hayze looks at Adrian.

Hayze: (At first, I wasn’t thrilled about not being able to choose who I would complete my internship with, but I’m happy I ended up here. Adrian has taught me a lot, and I’m excited to see what else he has in store for me.)

Hayze and Adrian reach the house.

Adrian: Head inside; I have to make a call.

Hayze: (Probably to the principal.) Alright.

Hayze goes inside.

Hayze: (You know I haven’t really had a chance to look around since I got here, it’s a pretty nice place.)

Hayze starts walking around Adrian’s living room.

Hayze: (I wonder why he lives up here? He said he doesn’t talk to people much, but he’s a reasonably nice guy. It’s all… weird.)

Hayze walks up to the fireplace.

Hayze: (What’s the point of having a fireplace if you don’t have any firewood?)

Hayze stares at the fireplace.

Hayze: (Oh well.)

Hayze walks over to the drawer. He looks around and then opens it to find the picture of Adrian, Fatal, and Walker. Hayze picks it up.

Hayze: (This must be from back when they attended U.A. together.)

Hayze continues looking at the picture as he notices something peculiar about the edge of the photo. It appears to be the elbow of another person. Hayze gets a curious look on his face and takes the picture out of the frame; he sees that the image is actually folded.

Hayze: (Huh? I guess he must not have liked whoever was in the picture with them.)

He unfolds it to reveal the rest of the picture. Hayze gets a shocked look on his face. Adrian walks through the front door.

Adrian: Sorry about that, I just-

Adrian sees Hayze with the picture.

Adrian: Hey, put that back!

Adrian walks over to Hayze.

Adrian: You shouldn’t take apart other people’s stuff without asking-

Adrian notices Hayze’s shocked expression.

Adrian: Look, kid, I’m not mad. Just-

Hayze holds the unfolded picture up to Adrian.

Hayze: Who is this?

Adrian looks at the picture; his expression becomes somber.

Adrian: That’s a touchy subject… Why do you want to know?

The person on the folded part of the picture is… Iota.

Hayze: This guy came to me during the Sports Festival; he was odd and kind of creepy. I’ve wanted to know who the hell he is ever since.

Adrian is taken aback.

Adrian: That’s… that’s not possible…

Hayze: What do you mean by “not possible?”

Adrian backs up a couple steps.

Adrian: Ivan is dead.

Hayze looks at Adrian, confused.

Hayze: Who is Ivan?

Adrian: That guy in the picture! Wait… what do you know him by then?

Hayze: He said to call himself Iota.

Adrian's eyes widen.

Hayze: Uh… are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.

Adrian: Repeat that, please.

Hayze: What? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.

Adrian: The thing before that, you idiot!

Hayze: He said to call himself Iota!

Adrian: Oh my god…

Hayze: What?

Adrian runs over to his fireplace, reaches inside, and pulls out a box. He rips it open and puts the Theta ring on his finger. Hayze stares at it.

Adrian: I know you’re lying! Tell me the truth, right now! How do you know about Ivan and Iota?

Hayze is speechless.

Adrian: Did I stutter?

Hayze: You have one of those rings too?

Adrian: Wait a second… you’ve seen one of these before?

Hayze: Iota, Ivan… he had a pink one with the Greek symbol for Iota engraved in the center of the gem.

Adrian lowers his guard.

Adrian: So you’re telling the truth…

Hayze: Why wouldn’t I be?

Adrian takes the ring off and puts it back in the box; he places it back in its hiding place.

Adrian: We need to talk… take a seat at the table.

Hayze: Uh… okay…

Adrian and Hayze sit across from each other at the table.

Adrian: The guy in the picture, his name was- is Ivan Odorizzi, and for the last 6 and a half years, I’ve believed he was dead.

Hayze: What? Why?

Adrian: I saw his body.

Hayze: What? How did- so he faked his death?

Adrian: I guess so; One day, when Ewing went to go check on him, he found Ivan hanging from the ceiling. I went to the funeral… I shed tears… and now… I don’t know what to think…

Hayze: (He looks afraid… why?) So what-

Adrian: I always thought it was fishy that Ewing couldn’t find the Iota ring. We concluded that Ivan hid it before his death so that nobody would ever be able to locate it, and nobody else would need to become a guardian for it.

Hayze: What’s a guardian?

Adrian: It’s what I am… and what Ivan was.

Adrian takes a deep breath.

Adrian: I’m gonna tell you a story, alright?

Hayze: Uh… sure… I guess.

Adrian: A long time ago, there was a villain with a rare ability called exorcism. It allowed him to absorb the quirk of a person and confine it to a catalyst. The villain was so mad in the head he formed a team with the sole goal of killing the top 10 heroes, taking their quirks, and trapping them in a single container that would make the wielder the most powerful human alive. You see, the strength of exorcism was that it could absorb all of a quirk’s positives without any of its drawbacks. Utilizing one of these contained quirks was basically like having an extra quirk. One by one, the top 10 fell, and each of their quirks was trapped inside a ring. Each ring was a different letter from the Greek alphabet and a colored gem. The 10 rings are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Sigma, Omega, Iota, and Theta. The villains succeeded in creating the 10 rings, but when it came to who should wear them, there were… disputes. The villains thought that by harnessing the Top 10 heroes' power, they would become the most powerful beings in the universe, but they overlooked one crucial fact.

Hayze: And what was that?

Adrian: Where one hero falls, another shall rise. The new Top 10 came together and defeated the villains before they could use all 10 rings to take over the world. The villains defeated the original top 10 heroes because they fought them one at a time, so even though the new top 10 were the old 11-20, their combined efforts were more than enough to take down the villains. The heroes collected the rings and decided that nobody should know of their existence and be hidden under the watchful eye of very trustworthy individuals.

Hayze: How did they decide who would be trustworthy or not?

Adrian: What do you think U.A. is?

Hayze: Huh?

Adrian: The principal of U.A. was given the task of assigning 9 upcoming heroes to become guardians of the rings, scattered across the globe, not even aware of each other. Being a guardian requires you to live in solitude… hiding with the artifact until you die, then you pass the ring off to the next guardian. This has occurred for generations…

Hayze: So… how did you and Iota get chosen for the job?

Adrian: When a guardian passes and a ring requires a new guardian, the top 5 most trustworthy senior class students are gathered and told this story. They’re then given a simple question: Are you willing to become the next guardian? Rachel, Houston, Damien, Ivan, and I were called into Ewing’s office the day before we graduated. He needed two guardians; Ivan and I were the ones who stood up and said yes. Rachel, Houston, and Damien’s memories were wiped, and I had to lie to my best friends about why I was leaving my dream of becoming a pro hero behind. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do… When Ivan killed himself, we assumed the loneliness of being a guardian got to him… but I guess we were wrong…

Hayze: So… I have a lot of questions.

Adrian: I’m willing to answer, but you have to answer my questions once you’re done.

Hayze: Okay. First, why didn’t those heroes just destroy the rings in the first place? They clearly don’t seem like they’re good to have around.

Adrian: Destroying the rings is useless; the fragments would still contain its power, so you’d only be multiplying it. Furthermore, they can’t be melted or ground into dust. For some inexplicable reason, if a piece of the ring is turned to dust, the gem regenerates it.

Hayze: How did the villains manage that?

Adrian: I said inexplicable, didn’t I?

Hayze: Okay… Second, you said 9 guardians, but there are 10 rings.

Adrian: That’s because the Zeta ring is meant to not be found.

Hayze: What does that mean?

Adrian: To ensure that all 10 rings would never be brought together, it was decided that one would be hidden where nobody would know of its location. So it was given to a group of men that traveled across the globe to find a place to hide the ring. After that… they killed themselves, so nobody would ever know where to find it.

Hayze: Wow…

Hayze is quiet for a moment.

Hayze: So… what does your ring do?

Adrian: The Theta ring grants superintelligence. That’s how I understood and created attacks for your quirk in such a short period.

Hayze: Well, that explains a lot…

Adrian: Any more questions?

Hayze: No… That’s all I’ve got… for now.

Adrian: Good, then it’s my turn. What do you know about Ivan?

Hayze: Nothing really… he approached me during the Sports Festival, wished me good luck, and walked away.

Adrian: That’s strange.

Hayze: If you think that’s weird, then listen to this. The night of the forest attack, this girl was talking about her “master,” and she showed me this branding on her hand. It was a pink Iota symbol.

Adrian goes into deep thought.

Adrian: (So he’s the one who orchestrated the attack on the forest… he’s alive, and he’s using the Iota Ring for evil… but… why? That’s not the Ivan I knew.)

Adrian stands up.

Adrian: I’m sorry, but this internship is over.

Hayze: Wait, what!

Adrian: My identity as a guardian… and, more importantly, my location is compromised. I need to return the ring to Ewing and relinquish my duties as a guardian before Ivan can make his move.

Hayze: You think he’s gonna come for the ring?

Adrian: Of course, he is… the more rings you have… the powerful you become.

Hayze: And what the hell am I supposed to do?

Adrian: Well... you’re gonna have to forget.

Hayze: What do you mean forget-

Adrian punches Hayze and knocks him out.

Adrian: Sorry, kid…

Adrian gently places Hayze on the ground.

Adrian: I only told you the story to get you to give me the information I needed. Only a select few people are allowed to know about the rings, and you aren’t one of them.

Adrian starts packing a bag.

Adrian: (I can’t believe Ivan is alive… but why did he wait until now to make his move… It's been more than half a decade since he “died.” What was he doing all this time?)

Suddenly Adrian’s entire house shakes.

Adrian: What the hell? Was that an earthquake?

Adrian’s house shakes again. Adrian looks out his window and sees Adonis, Jagger, and Yusuf waiting outside.

Adrian: (Speaking of Ivan…)

Adrian walks out the front door and down the steps.

Adrian: Leave. Now.

Jagger: You’re not in the position to be ordering anyone around.

Adrian: And why not? I’m not afraid of you pipsqueaks.

Jagger starts laughing.

Adrian: What, did I tell a joke?

Jagger: Let me tell you what’s going to happen here. You’re going to hand over the Theta Ring to us.

Adrian: No.

Jagger: Sorry, that wasn’t a question.

Adrian: Oh, I know. I was just wondering out loud if you’ve lost your virginity.

Jagger: Hilarious, but I have one more order I need to issue.

Adrian: And what’s that?

Jagger: Do you mind bringing my friend Hayze out here? I need to get some payback for what happened in the forest.

Adrian: I don’t think he swings that way, pal.

Jagger: *frustrated grunt*

Adrian: Looks like that one hit a nerve.

Jagger: You know what, just for that one, after we rip that ring out of your clutches, I’m gonna make you watch as Adonis crushes his skull against the ground.

Adrian starts laughing.

Jagger: What’s so funny?

Adrian’s eyes changed to red.

Adrian: I don’t think you realize how fucked you are.