“ALRIGHT MAGGOTS!!! LeETS Get to… ffhh okay yeah that’s too over the top. Hehe!” Aegis took over the course as if she was always meant to. “For the next month, all of you are going to get stronger. No, not more powerful, actual physical strength.” She didn’t mock the trainees with nicknames, she didn’t leave anyone to wallow. “Powers can be blocked, defeated, countered.” She made sure every one of her trainees at least gained something from this course. “You’re going to have to learn how to fight without them. And so your first lesson is to bulk up.” But fucking hell was it brutal!

Sprints around the arena, all four hundred yards of it. The standard push-ups, sit-ups, and the like, but wholesale in the hundreds. And all the weight and strength training in between. For half of the first week Para was tagged in, letting nothing go unaccosted. His training usually focused more on competitive regimens. Obstacle courses were his favorite, but some days he would mix things up with one ton block pushes and endurance runs. By the end, if everyone wasn’t passed out or close to it, he’d make them run it again.

By the end of most days, the trainees were comatose in their beds, only rousing when dinner was being served. The food was the only real saving grace. The Hill’s super chef Ambrose made dishes from every corner of the globe. ‘And they are motherfucking good!!!’ Despite being sore to the bone, the trainees, and a lot of off duty heroes, scrambled into the canteen to at least end their days on a high note.

The rooms for the trainees were small, but not quite broom closets. A built in bed and dresser on one side, sink and enclosed bathroom in the back. Even a fold out desk and chairs. Seth could live with it. It at least didn’t have yellowed wall paper. Each room also had a terminal that popped out of the wall. Full access to the internet, though with obvious security features, and a full schedule and directory for The Hill’s facilities. All in all this was probably a life he could get used to, if it weren’t for a rather serious handicap.

Aegis stepped up to Seth before starting her first regimen. “Seth, right? I’m not going to lie, that suit seems pretty important to you. But relying on it, even if it doesn’t do anything for you, is going to make things harder in the long run. All the other recruits are going to be carrying around powers they can’t fully use for a while, and to see you wearing that suit is going to cause some… jealousy?... nah they will just straight up hate you for it. So listen, for the next month… I’m going to need you to take the suit off and carry it everywhere you go.” Seth recoiled, but sighed in surrender. “I understand.” He stepped out of the suit, turning and folding it in, back into its travel ready form. He thought for a second and turned to Cleo, "Think I could get some of those straps?" who in turn smiled maliciously. “Sure, anything for yoouu.” Seth ignored her malicious smile and accepted the materialized, and hopefully inert, leather straps. A few knots and loops and he had a near ton backpack keep him down. Pulling it up, the weight was obvious to the other trainees, most seeing it as payback for the free for all. Aegis glared down their malice and turned back to Seth. “There… I know it’s heavy, but I also know full well you can handle it. But if Para gives you shit about it tell me okay. I’ll knock him on his ass.” She turned back to the gathered trainees. “Okay recruits! Let’s Get Running!!! … What? This is a training camp! What did you think we were going to do?” Seth trudged in behind everyone. Climbing the stairs up here was one thing, but now super strength training. ‘Huuggh.’

The running wasn’t so bad, lugging around over a thousand and a half pounds of metal secured to your back with what can only be hoped to be non-maliciously attuned straps of conjured leather was rather easy on flat ground. The real work started with the pushups, he lost feeling in his arms after the first hundred, don’t ask about the second hundred. Much of the work outs were similarly brutal, sit ups at least offered a reprieve, the suit acting as a spotter. But of course to compensate, he had to do an extra hundred. Seth burned through most of his saved up energy just trying to stay conscious. The other trainees at least were mutually exhausted, if not outright broken from over exertion. He could tell though that they were only able to train this hard because of Mediknight, who watched over each session and repaired the quickly tearing muscle before it was even able to feel pain. This didn’t ease the exhaustion though, or the perpetual soreness.

Seth had the hardest time during Para’s tag-ins of course. He regularly stood on Seth’s block during the one ton block push, using it as a stage to berate anyone who fell behind him. He at least didn’t limit his accosting, but it was annoying to still be considered powerless at this point. The obstacle course was obscene though. Much of it wasn’t designed to handle the weight of the suit, let alone the obtuse nature of it strapped to his back. Logs and ropes snapped regularly, eliciting collective punishment each time, usually devolving into more endurance runs. The idea he favored competition but distributed collective punishments was irksome to everyone, especially Seth since he was the one most likely to be called out for it. Thankfully Aegis stepped in after the first few sessions and took over the obstacle course. To balance the schedule, Para opted for rock climbing races, the indoor units at least appeared sturdier than the wooden obstacles.

By the end of the first week, the trainees were beaten to shit. They were allowed weekends off, but everyone used them to simply remain passed out in their beds. Seth mostly used the time to watch TV on his terminal. Even if he quit, he still liked keeping tabs on the armor industry at large. The next week started with more of the same, but… it was surprisingly less taxing. Even those that struggled with the training were improving. Before long it was like nothing at all to sprint around the arena, knock out five hundred pull ups, or a twenty second rush over the obstacle course. They were all still pretty sore though.

By the end of the second week the trainees were actually enjoying their Saturday, though they were confined to The Hill or chaperoned for security purposes. ‘The League doesn’t seem to take any chances with security these days.’ The next week flew by, the trainees felt stronger and stronger each day. Most wagered the food was full of steroids or something, others just passively thanked Mediknight’s abilities for the accelerated gains. Speaker seemed to affirm the suspicion. “But remember to practice at your own healing, better to not have to rely on others after all.” ‘Don’t you start too.’ Whatever the cause, the prospects were looking good. Good enough for Para to alter his courses for the last week of the month.

The trainees lined up for Monday drills as Para waited as usual. “Aright. You’ve all made progress… I guess. But don’t expect things to be easy now that you’ve gotten stronger. Next week you’ll be starting fight training, as well as a little selected coursework. Can’t have you just skip out on a proper education. But this week though, heh heh, this week you're all mine. To prepare you properly for fighting at the level expected of you, we won’t be doing standard training routines. Instead we will start learning to control all that strength you’ve built up. Aegis!” The lined up trainees looked to an opening storage door on the side of the arena. It was large, almost reaching the stands above it, but the trainees couldn’t make out what was actually inside the space. The keen eyed saw a rounded shape matched into the darkness, but could only put real definition to it once the door was fully open and the object started rolling. When Seth saw it, he and the Garkah collectively reeled.

The matte black and circuitry etched sphere from Frigateville, the Garkah’s Ark. But it was… different. The melded in space rocks had been removed, and it was visibly scarred from all manner of attacks. Cracks from punches, burns and slightly melted sections from energy attacks, there was even a deep, but small, gash from a sword. As Aegis somewhat effortlessly rolled it out onto the arena floor more marks became visible, but none of them seemed to be anything more than surface wounds. It finally stopped behind Para, looming over him at nearly three times his size. Seth hadn’t realized it was that big. He could feel the Garkah scramble for understanding, a few looking for countermeasures. Had the League deduced their presence, learned anything from their ark? Para slammed a hand onto the sphere, causing it to resound with a deep metal gong, silencing the trainee’s gossip that Seth was too lost in thought to hear. “A few of you seem to understand just what this is, good for you. For the uneducated, this is… was… the source of the Laceroid Crisis.” Seth was forcibly reminded of the first few months in the orphanage, watching the only TV in the building and seeing the daily reports. The speculations over the cause, the classifications of the monsters… the casualty numbers. Hundreds of thousands were dead by the end. A globe spanning effort, all the terror and pain, everything the crisis had caused. All of it had stemmed from this massive black sphere.

The trainees were visibly shaken up a bit by its presence here, Seth especially. But he understood he needed to get ahead of things before his reaction drew notice. “Why is it here?” The grit on his teeth turned the trainees toward him, most seeing a similar stare of internal dread. “It’s here because no one can do anything with it.” The trainees turned back to Para, scowling at Seth for interrupting. “This accursed thing is virtually indestructible, these marks and cuts are proof of that. They weren’t made by tools or machines. These are all marks from some of the strongest heroes who survived the crisis.” Para rolled the sphere back slightly, the massive weight undeniable as it creaked the floor of the arena despite the sand. An indent that appeared to crack its surface slightly came in over his shoulder. “This one was made by Kineticlysm, the force he put out almost leveled the old Kadia base.” He rolled it again showing a melted blast mark. “This was made by our very own Hothead, the temp he put out was measured at just a touch over 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This thing could skip off the surface of the sun and still remain solid.” He rolled again, revealing the gash from before. “This is the most damage we’ve ever done to this thing, this was Makani Samurai’s contribution. He studied this damn thing for months, tested every weakness, every attack angle. This was the best he could do. Today this thing is used as a test of true strength and skill among the League’s heroes. A rite of passage for the best of the best. If you can leave a mark on this thing, you’re strong or skilled enough to do anything.” The trainees lit up at this comment, raised dread melted away by common spite and future recognition. Secondary goals were powerful motivation. A few though seemed to truly relish in the fact that the cause of the crisis was being used as a punching bag. Para killed the motivation real quick. “Don’t even think about it. This thing is off limits to trainees… with one exception. Today I’m taking you all up to the mountains, we’re going to find the steepest rock wall we can find, and we are going to climb it. First one to the top gets to smack the ball. ONCE! I sure hope those rock climbing routines stuck, because this is going to be a free climb. No safety, no ropes, just you and the wall. Now come on, VTOLs waiting.”

The trainees funneled out as Aegis begrudgingly pushed the several ton sphere back into storage. The trainees followed Para through the periphery of the arena to the logistical side of The Hill. Passing dispatch and command and control rooms bustling with support staff. They left through a wide double door to the outside platforms, landing pads for the League’s VTOL transports. They were led to the only active craft, Mediknight leaving it as they approached. “You’ll have to do this without me. Can’t be gone from The Hill for very long. Left plenty of med packs, but do try not to fall.” He walked off, staying at the doorway to watch the class leave. They were lead in, strapping into jumper seats on both sides of the craft. As Seth stepped on, the craft audibly groaned under the weight of his suit and limit alarms blared from the cockpit. He strapped the suit to the cargo hooks in the center to balance out the weight and calm the sensors. The craft began to thunder to life despite the burden, the dual tilt-jet engines roared deafeningly as it lifted off slowly. The noise from the engines disappeared as the loading ramp closed, leaving nothing but the metal reverb to fill the silence.

The trip was quick, the pilot had apparently scouted the area ahead of time and the mountains were fairly close. “Trust me, the view‘ll be worth the climb.” Para glared at the pilot for encouraging his trainees then turned back to the cockpit window, scanning the area around the ascent. “Land there, we’ll walk the rest of the way.” The craft wobbled slightly as it turned to land in a clearing. “I’ll stay on station if you-” Para dead eyed the pilot into silence.

The trainees funneled out as the engines died down. Hefting the suit back on his back, Seth could see the area was odd. Relatively young saplings surrounded long dead trees that still stood at defiant attention. There was little canopy left of the forest here, like a fire had swept through years ago. He recognized some of the plants, it was like his backyard, just… more barren. And as the engine finally stopped… it grew quiet. Unnervingly quiet. The mountains loomed over their clearing, but were a mile or so away. A visible set of trails snaked out toward them, defiant of the considerable disuse. Para passed the nature observant trainees and headed up the straightest trail to the mountain, the trainees filing in behind him without a word. Seth felt like this exercise was as odd as the scenery. He’d mentioned they would learn control, but free climbing seemed like too simple a task for that. Though he realized it would be simple for everyone else, the obscene amount of dead weight on his back colored his expectations of the coming climb.

Para finally stopped everyone at the base of an almost sheer wall of sedimentary stone, though there were obvious soft spots in between several of the solid rocks. “We’ll rest up here. Tabby, Kaze, fire wood. Combo Breaker, fire pit. Toaster, fire. Waterboy, Snowcone, refill canteens. Butterknife, Ditto, I know you brought food, prep it here, you’ll be sharing it at the summit. Everyone else, butts down.” Everyone did what they were told, though with obvious obstination at the continued use of their derogatory nicknames. Maya raised a stone ring to act as a fire pit. The area was fairly barren this close to the mountain and the wind was barely noticeable, but Para seemed to at least subscribe to safe camping practices. Razor and Alex asked Maya for a table for prep work and were quickly given one. David and Jacob took turns filling and icing everyone’s canteens. Kaz sized up a few small dead trees that lined the path behind them and sliced them up while Tabby scrounged up loose twigs for kindling. Kabar poked at the empty fire pit with a slowly burning twig he’d picked up. Once finally given burnables, he ignited the twig and stuffed it into the kindling, using his hands to add to the smoldering spark as needed. The rest of the group gathered around the growing fire, the cold mountain air wasn’t too bad but a fire made it nice and relaxing. Seth sat down, letting his suit fall back like a makeshift seat back so he could lounge. Para leered at him almost immediately, so he sat up a bit more properly.

“Now. You should have noticed by now that the wall behind me is unstable. The connecting soil, dust, ash, and sand between the rocks makes this climb treacherous for even seasoned climbers. It takes more than strength to pull yourself up on this thing. Pull too hard and you’re liable to loose a boulder that will, at best, take you with it, at worst, take out everyone below you. To this end, I’m allowing limited power use, but no pulleys, no flying unless you fall, and no breaking my wall! You ruin it, I will make you drag that accursed sphere around the arena until you pass out or get crushed by it. Is that understood?” “Yes sir!” Seth was almost astonished by the unanimous affirmation. Even if he was a jackass, the trainees still respected Para. To that end they quickly rested and planned their ascents.

Kaz and Razor were going to use their weapons as artificial handholds, everyone else was left with just their hands. Jacob could use his powers to freeze his in place, but worried about leaving slick spots for the others. Tabby seemed to have things made, taking on the form of a snow leopard and testing the first couple of handholds. Maya tested the consistency of the loose material, theorizing she could solidify it with a little water. David overheard and quickly joined her as support. Zeleny tried to cheat slightly by barely floating as she pulled herself upward, but Para spotted and scolded her quickly. Ohm rocketed up the wall almost immediately, little care paid for the dangers or the consequences. Marco followed suit, but with more forethought. Alex copied Tabby and gave chase, a red tinted snow leopard looked weird but it was effective. Kabar and Cleo took up the rear of the main pack, promising to catch anyone who fell with their lines and straps. That just left Seth to be last, though he was having to alter things.

“So… does limited powers mean I can stop hauling my suit?” Para, observing the climbers from below glared at him. “No.” Seth’s shoulders dropped in disappointment, but he thought through it again. Releasing the suit from its travel mode, he twisted off one of the gauntlets. “How about these?” “Heh, just give up and get climbing already. You’re way behind.” Seth scowled. “You and I both know I’m set up to fail this as is. Either I go up without it or you let me use pieces of it. I’m not going up to just fail automatically under all this weight.” Para turned to him with a meeting scowl. “Fine. If you want to cheat your way through this then go ahead. You weren’t winning this competition anyway.” Seth turned away, only partially relieved. He took the straps from the suit and fashioned a line to hang the bulk of it below him, it would be too cumbersome as a backpack otherwise. He took off both gauntlets and put them on, the gel layer forming tight around his hands to avoid slipping. The gauntlets offered traction he didn’t have naturally, they also had retractable claws for grappling like this. Seth focused before starting up, making extra sure the gauntlets were locked in place and his hands were strong enough to get him up. With one hand he raked a low boulder for a handhold until it snagged and allowed him to pull himself upward.

To say this climb was treacherous was understating it. Dust and loose pebbles rained down with every foot gained by the rest of the class. ‘How something this unstable is still standing is beyond comprehension.’ Every hold or step up needed the three anchor points, and finding even one was hard enough. What looked like sedimentary rock initially may as well have been a filled in gravel pit that was forcibly turned into a cliff. Thankfully Seth found some of Maya and David’s quickcrete hand holds and made better progress upward. As he climbed though, the weight of the suit began to make itself known. The wind at least was blocked on this slope, but every motion required equal footing just to even progress. And the holds were getting smaller and smaller until-'FUCK!!!' A hold slid free of the wall, loose dust surrounding it slipping the whole concrete block out into Seth’s hand. Thankfully he was at least stable as it dragged him back. He desperately forced himself forward and slotted the block back, but saw something strange between exacerbated breaths. Some kind of black dust that hadn’t mixed into the concrete. Sand and gravel, ash and dirt, it was all mixed together in the block but not the black dust. He looked around and saw lines of it everywhere, seams around some of the stones, and on them, like it had seeped in from above somehow. Seth didn’t really have time to investigate, his weight was going to weather any holds he held so he had to keep moving.

Foot by foot he climbed. The claws on his gauntlets allowed him purchase on the larger more stable stones, some even had weathered vertical grooves that made it easier. But ‘Fucking hell’ was the suit getting heavy. He could hear celebration from the peak, sounded like Ohm was gloating about beating everyone. He kind of expected this. What he didn’t expect was Para climbing up past him, barely fazed by the nature of the wall. “If you’re this slow with cheats on Tinman, why even bother with the suit. Better to just ditch it all together and start from scratch.” Seth fought the urge to sneer at him, his balance was a little precarious at the moment. Para clambered on, he’d done this before, grabbed handholds no one even saw and moved upward with barely a single grain falling in his wake. Seth was a little sure he was cheating, but accusations were a luxury right now. He was only a few yards behind Kabar and Cleo when they pulled themselves over the lip. Those last few feet were the hardest though, much of the stable rocks were in pieces, looked almost shattered. And the loose sediment was even finer, running like water when disturbed. He stabbed into what solid rocks he could to make progress, every inch a struggle. Finally he slammed his armored hand down on the solid plateau that marked the summit, digging metal claws into it for even the slightest grip. He crawled over the lip on all fours, still weighed down by the suit, using every ounce of strength he had left to pull up to his feet and hoist the suit up onto the plateau, falling into a heap as it cleared.

He slowly picked himself up, grabbing the suit by the collar and walking it to a clear spot. The trainees were quiet, exhaustion maybe, he didn’t care. Seth found his spot and collapsed back, leaving the suit to stand guard at his feet. Every muscle, every bone felt drained for some reason. He could feel the dust in his shoes, in his clothes, despite the seal he could even feel it in the gauntlets. He sat up and pulled them off, but caught sight of the rest of the group as he flopped back down. He got back up puzzled. They were all looking out over the landscape below, Para standing ahead of them. They looked tense despite their exhaustion. Seth struggled up to see what was the… big… deal…

He saw it immediately, how the hell did he miss this getting up here. ‘HOW THE HELL DID I NOT SEE IT!!!’ The landscape was cut in two, on one side truly barren wasteland, pockmarked craters and poisoned earth. What tree line remained was long dead, burned almost completely away. The other side was abandoned tents, overgrown concrete slabs, and hollowed out warehouses as far as the eye could see. In the middle of it all… was a wall. The Wall.

Seth's knees failed as the weight of the past fell upon him. He’d put most of the memories of the crisis behind him, but they all began forcing themselves to the forefront. He fought it, but nothing he did could hold them off. Para made little indication he noticed his plight, but he did. “You all know the stories from the crisis, First Contact, the Signal Massacre, the Longest Day. No one tells the stories from this side of the wall though.” Para moved to face the bombed and once burning landscape on the other side of the wall. “Up here we didn’t have infrastructure, turrets, support staff. All we had was each other, the unforgiving terrain, and an enemy that took everything you had just to hold back.” Para looked down at two indentations, ruts in the plateau that no one paid any mind to. “I stood here 10 years ago. No older than most of you. For weeks we were forced to hold this position, the only company the hero to either side, several yards away.” The trainees looked around, similar plinths stood on peaks that chained down to the wall below. “The only saving grace we had was that the big hordes never came up here. But it still meant we had to fight those fucking things face to face. You know why this wall is so treacherous, it’s because I pulverized it to bury the bastards. Several times over.”

Seth put his hands on his head, he couldn’t get the thought of that first monster out of his head. Burned practically to the bone, but still dead set on ripping him apart. The look of desperation locked in behind its eyes. “Despite being smashed and buried by boulders and gravel, they kept coming. I saw them chew and pull their own arms and legs off to get out of the rubble. Every time they just grew back, but seeing an enemy do everything it can to fucking try and eat you… It adds a lot of perspective to things.” Seth was trying his damnedest to bury the memories, but he couldn’t stop thinking of the couple that tried to help him in Brighton. Their screams. “Despite how difficult the climb was, they always found a way up, either charging straight up the pulverized rock, or climbing over their falling comrades. When all else failed, we were forced to fight hand to hand. They tell you to just keep hitting the damn things till they burst, but the reality is you have to force back 12 for every 1 you can kill. And our powers weren’t making things easy either. Sonic waves disrupted them fine, but my flanks were left to guys with water powers. They did all they could just to force them back every time they attacked. Most of the fire based heroes were assigned the heavy platforms on the wall. Here… we only had one.”

Seth remembered the smell of the fires, of shrapnel burning through flesh, and of… the dust. “She was our saving grace most days. Swooping in to clear our backlogs. Till she swooped too low. They grabbed her cape and pulled her down into that campsite we just made.” The trainees peered over the edge, down at the barren site they camped at, circles radiating out from it that they couldn’t see from the ground. The ground that was rippled by a massive weathered crater. Seth slowly pulled his hands off his head, a grit sticking to his scalp. “I jumped from my position to try and save her. I blasted at least 5 to dust before I saw it was too late. She was barely there by the time I had even reacted. Only one arm still able to move. She… used that arm to self-immolate… and take the horde attacking us with her. I only had a few seconds before she turned herself into a fucking thermobaric bomb. So I climbed. I climbed faster than I ever thought I could. The explosion nearly pulled me off the damn wall, but the fire she started burned this entire forest down and turned this mountain side into an impassable hellscape. When I made it to the top… I saw those fucking things suffering, rolling around in the fire. Bursting. But… They still! Kept! Coming! They followed me up, half burned and barely healing. Snarling with hardly a lung left between them.” Seth finally looked down at his hands. “I blasted them all apart right then and there.” His hands were black with dust, the dust of the dead Laceroids. Seth saw them, those eyes, all his neighbors and friends, all staring at him. But he could only look ahead. At the hazel eyes crying at him while her body snarled like a starved animal. “Let it be known then that this is the level you need to achieve. This is what will be expected of you as a hero. The will to survive despite the abhorrent odds. The skill to not die pointlessly for an inch of gain. And the strength to hold out for the countless miles behind you.” Seth couldn’t hold out anymore, his vision was blacking, his ears were ringing. He heard the Garkah as the ring crescendoed. Speaker trying to organize the control room, to stifle the memories. And Threat trying to… *thumph* He passed out, falling into the ash and dust that caked the plateau.

Seth woke up to the metal dimmed drone of engines, he was back on the VTOL. He tried to blink the world into focus, but his eyelids felt heavier than ever. Scanning around, he saw the other trainees in similar states of exhaustion, his suit laid down in the center of the hold. Para was stood over him, unceremoniously dropping his gauntlets onto his lap with little regard. Seth was sobered up by the pain of them smacking down on him. “If you’re going to pass out so easily, you’re going to need to get your shit together. We’ve all been through the meat grinder in one way or another.” Seth was still too exhausted to retaliate, but understood the sentiment. He put his head back, the din of the engines turned to a soothing vibration. He nodded off until the VTOL landed back at The Hill.

The trainees dragged themselves out like the dead and headed back to the arena, little fanfare for their competition. Seth lugged his suit behind him like a ball and chain, metal scraping against tiled floor. Aegis met them in the arena with the sphere back in place, congratulatory smile melting away as they shambled in. Ohm, being the winner of the contest, moved up to the sphere with a shaky stance, before passing out himself. “What the hell kind of mountain did you make them climb Para!?” He didn’t answer, he just picked up Ohm and hoisted him over his shoulder. “You’re all dismissed. We’ll do this tomorrow… And you all did well today.” The trainees that could soberly comprehend that they were just complimented by fucking Parasonic were agape. They just couldn’t voice their surprise. They all just funneled out again to their rooms, Para hauling Ohm to his.

Seth trudged into his room, leaving the suit by the door. He stepped into the shower without bothering to take his training clothes off and turned the hot knob, crumpling onto the tiles as the water showered over him. Black dust washed off into the drain like dried blood as he curled up with his head in his knees. He thought he’d been done with this hell, with these memories, but they just lied dormant. Hidden in the dark corners of his mind, like the abyss. They were faded away but his mind refused to leave them be, flashing them again and again without mercy. He slept in the shower that night, too tired to eat and too hollowed out to move.

Seth woke up in bed, clothes drying in the bathroom. The slight care of the Garkah colored his dried catharsis. They’d pulled him out of his stupor so at the very least he wasn’t miserable and depressed. Getting dressed was at least easy. His room was still sparse in terms of personalization. Only ‘officially’ having a highschool education and few mementoes from Frigateville will leave one bereft of choice in this regard. The only decorations were a framed sticky note with the word “dent” on it and a small compact box he kept by his bed. The note was how he got into United Armors in the first place. The box was something he’d bought not long after. It was simple, he bought it with his first paycheck so it wasn’t about to be extravagant. But inside he stored his mother’s red scarf, tightly folded down and protected. He looked at it as he groggily rubbed the memories down and went to grab up his suit. But his hand stopped once he took it in. It was coated in dust, black stains clinging to leading edges like iron filings. They tore at him, reminders he didn’t need. Without thinking he swiped away at them, the lights of his room flickering as he drew power. But he stopped himself. He could feel the dust clearly in his hand, balled together by magnetic forces he hadn’t instinctively created. He could feel a pull, an attraction. But the longer he felt it, the harder it was to keep the pain down. He gritted his teeth, stomping over and throwing the dust ball into the shower. He was desperate to push all those memories back, to get back his hard won optimism. A short spray of water washed it away with all the rest. He took a shaky releasing breath and finally grabbed the suit, folding it back up and strapped it to his back. He was dressed and as ready as someone forced to relive their darkest moments all over again could ever be.

Everyone seemed in equally shaken spirits as they lined up for morning training, except Ohm who was beaming at finally getting his winnings. Para and Aegis met the trainees with the sphere, ready for his go at it. As did several other heroes who more than likely came to observe the proceedings from the stands. Para stepped up ahead of the forming line up. “You’ve noticed we have an audience today, they’re not just here to watch Ohm break his hand. They’re here to watch our training sessions from here on out. Over the next month you will be scouted by heroes of every shape and shade. They are all here to see if you’re worthy of training under them. They are power instructors, seeking to share their understandings of their power types with you. But you’ll have to earn their instruction. For now ignore them, no sense psyching yourself down just because you’re being watched. Without further ado. Ohm, take your shot so we can get started.” Para stepped to the side, relative safe distance was apparently warranted. Aegis walked in behind the sphere and a halo of orange energy formed around the back, wrapping around just enough to keep the sphere in place.

Seth noticed something else, a slight pull over his shoulder. He turned and was met with a matte black panel advancing up on him. He stepped out of line and to the other side of it, seeing the panel had a whole apparatus joined to the back. Pushing it was… Technomancer. He was obviously struggling, the wheeled cart the panel was on wasn’t meant for sand. “Excuse me, out of the way.” He continued to push the apparatus closer to the sphere, startling the trainees as he passed by, but stopping short suddenly next to them. He tried to keep pushing, but it wouldn’t budge. Para peeked around the panel to Technomancer’s surprise. “That’s far enough Techno, you’re barreling through my recruits.” “Sorry, can’t really see through metal you know.” Seth looked at the apparatus proper, batteries, specialized energy conveyors and converters, some kind of computerized sensor system, and all of it wired into that matte panel. “Why are you bring in such a massive an electromagnet?”

Techno and Para turned with mixed surprise and curmudgeon respectively. Techno observed Seth rather indignantly. “It’s not just an electromagnet recruit, it’s a high powered magnetic sensor array… that doubles as an electromagnet.” Para put a hand over Techno’s unexpecting head and turned him back to his apparatus, stepping around him to addressing the other trainee’s confused looks as well. “We still don’t know enough about this thing, what it’s really made of, or how the hell it was made. Every piece, no matter how minute, needs to be collected. We also need to study every effect we have on it. So,” Para turned back to Ohm from around the magnetic array. “even if you fail to even scratch the surface of this thing, we will still get something out of you shattering every bone in your hand Clarence.” Ohm sneered back. “The only thing shattering today is this spherical abomination, you understand that! Just watch!” Seth stepped around the magnetic array to get a better view. Techno looked up from the apparatus’ keyboard to measure the levels on its screen. “We also put every ounce of material we get off this thing to use. It’s slowly advancing our computing and conductive technologies beyond our comparatively meager methods. Now back up! Your suit is distorting my readings.” Seth backed up behind the array. ‘Well… at least I’m not the only means of redemption for the Garkah.’

Ohm stepped up to the sphere, he was carrying a battery pack at his side, but dropped it once he got close enough. Seth could see the electricity he had taken in, his nerves were like high yield power lines wrapped around his muscles. He pulled his arm in and the electricity stored up became visible to everyone else, sparking and glowing beneath his skin. Lining up his attack with his other hand, he set his sights on a blank part of the sphere. Seth felt a tinge of apprehension from the Garkah, not so much in the force about to be projected, but in the electrical energy behind it. He knew a little about the Ark from what they had taught him, but was pretty sure Ohm wasn’t going to cause a second crisis by slamming a few hundred kilowatts into it.

Ohm held his stance for a full minute before pulling his aiming hand back like a counterweight, adding its force to the now released punch. Electrical discharge coated his fist as it screeched into the sphere, a final arc seen jetting out his elbow adding propulsion. His fist made contact like a lightning strike… mixed with a gibbing. A sickening snap could be heard under the thunder and screech of the electricity. He broke his hand. “AAAHHHH!!! FUCK!!! FUCK FUCK FUUUUCKK!!!” Ohm recoiled hard off the sphere, curling up around his shattered hand, blood dripping around his other hand from whatever was left. Mediknight was already prepped behind the trainees, pulling around them and calmly bee lining to Ohm. Para watched on with only a tinge of smugness. “Told you. Let this be a more concrete lesson. It takes more than brute strength to deal with things and move forward. You’re all going to have to learn where to strike and how to strike, else you’ll just be pounding sand. Heh, or breaking your hand. Ha!”

Seth kept his eyes on the Ark as the smoke and ozone from the impact cleared. The electricity that Ohm imparted into his attack had merely danced over the surface ineffectually, he couldn't sense any power from inside the Ark. The only mark left on the surface was a red stain in the shape of a fist. ‘Sheesh, Ohm really fucked up his hand on this.’ Techno’s sensor array showed no signs of material collection, or interesting readings as well it seemed. His disappointment clear as day as he grabbed the cart again and started pulling the array back out of the arena. Seth turned back to the Ark. ‘What kind of force could even hurt this thing anyway?’ The silent murmurings from the crowds afforded him some silence as he felt Speaker’s quiet answer. “Not so much a force but a specific kind of energy. Hit it with the correct voltage and amperage and it will shatter like glass. Anything else would just result in… well what you saw here. The surface scarring already inflicted is a clear indication that these heroes are getting close in other regards, but they are not going to have enough raw power to do much else. Let alone the right abilities to judge our Ark as anything but solud metal.” Seth stared at the Ark a little more. A juggernaut like this undone by just a specific variance of electrical force seemed an odd choice. He focused and tried to look closer, trying to feel through the Ark’s systems.

A guiding hand drew his focus to the right spot, Speaker at least helping him along. The systems still seemed dead on the surface, empty and burned out. But… he could just barely see something. A small current, completely unnoticeable to even the deepest of scans he knew. Seth couldn’t even make out what it fully was, just that it was there. Like a mesh screen seen from a distance. With a better picture, he tried to deepen his focus. Get a bit more resolution out of it. A slight flow in the mesh, the energy that Ohm slammed into the Ark. He could actually feel every joule of it as it flowed down the Ark’s wiring, but… it felt so small for some reason. Like it was farther away than it really was. Then, as he followed it along, he felt the pull the Ark had even upon his focus, and realized it was only small in a relative sense. The Ark… it was like a black hole. A fossilized gravity well for energy that pulled and swallowed it up with little outward notice. It was far deeper than anyone could ever perceive. And the current… It was everywhere, binding and condensing everything down. It stopped short of singularity, but the picture was clear despite its infinitesimal parts. “So you see it now? The issue is not the force alone. It is the scale. The ones who scarred the surface could see the Ark as a puzzle, pieces formed together, saw minute weaknesses and exploited them to the best of their ability. But to really damage the Ark you would need to effect it all at once. Disrupt the current that keeps it together. And to do that you would need to be able to directly affect the variables of a far grander amount of energy than can ever be realized from just looking at its surface. And I can say with certainty this is beyond much of your species’ abilities. Yet, anyway-” ”Oh thank gods!!” The silence was broken by Ohm exhaling in relief as his hand reappeared fully repaired from Mediknight’s clutches. But Speakers words rang clear. Seth found his resolve again, a new goal to reach on his path, but he had a ways to go before he could challenge this titan.

“Now that that’s out of the way, I still have 4 days’ worth of control training for you maggots.” Para stood before his recruits with a rather evil smirk as Aegis leered at him while, once again, pushing the super heavy sphere back into storage. He proceeded to subject everyone to intensely frustrating and grueling exercises the rest of the week. Each one a twist on the old regimens, or something completely out of left field. But strangely, not without a little merit.

The first day, once the dust was all settled, was the one ton block push turned the half ton block carry. With added glassware to encourage stability. Every broken piece was a hundred extra push ups tacked on to the end of the session. Seth, to add insult to injury, had to carry Para through a four course luncheon complete with waiting service. ‘Where the hell did he even get the waiter from?’ The trainees also had to sweep the arena floor by hand afterward to get all the broken glass out of the sand, and there was a lot of it.

The next day featured the obstacle course, redone completely out of sand. Maya was contracted out to make it, to her unimaginable frustration. She did amazing work on it though. But fucking hell was it unstable. If any amount of serious pressure was put on the course it almost immediately collapsed, adding seconds on to the runners time as a penalty. Every second over the fifteen requirement was a lap around the arena. Not so bad right, WRONG!! The lap had to be done at a certain measure speed dictated by Para, and any deviation above or below meant the lap was restarted. The trainees had to reach the speed before the lap was even counted unless they had no acceleration delay. Seth was forced to restart five times, in no small part due to the radar gun Para was using bouncing off the suit and giving false readings. To succeed at the obstacle course, in the end, required the trainees to hone their momentum usage. Preventing their inertia and weight from being transferred into the unstable sand sculptures. No one succeeded, but it was actually an interesting lesson idea.

The third day, funnily enough, featured a sculpting lesson… using iron scrap. The trainees were graded like art students for their composition and detail. The critique thankfully was the only punishment. Several trainees succeeded in making rather excellent sculptures. Razor was able to carve out a perfect rendition of the Ark, complete with scarring. Kabar heat formed a fully realized toaster, somewhat as a joke, somewhat as a buzzkill of his nickname. It didn’t help him, but it scored high. Seth was already accomplished in metal forming, but since he couldn’t fully show his powers, he had to slyly use his gauntlets as cover. He ended up creating a model of the first fully enclosed exoskeleton ever produced. Para was unhappy under the surface, but kept up the art critic act and gave him an okay score. The rest of the day was a simple exercise day, but every action had to be matched up with everyone else’s. Full team workout or every exercise was rendered indefinite. The trainees barely made it to dinner.

The fourth day consisted of more coordination drills, in the shape of dodgeball sports. First up was team dodgeball with no real additions beyond power assisted throws. But still, getting hit with a water jet propelled dodgeball can get painful. Next up was almost expected of Para, dodgeball obstacle course, but with three pounder medicine balls. The exercise became less a lesson on coordination and more a lesson on how to dodge. The final round, though, was a tournament for the trainees who had achieved the best times in the obstacle course, or knocked the most people off of it. The sport. Handball, aggressive and power assisted handball with the same medicine balls. The objective was simple, knock your opponent out of their circle. Every miss resulted in your own circle getting shrunk, and grabbing the ball resulted in disqualification. So the resulting back and forth hitting of the ball rendered it dangerously fast. Seth at least didn’t have to compete, everyone had aimed for his suit during the obstacle course so he was ‘knocked out’ too much. It afforded him a chance to see what the rest of his classmates were capable of at least.

Ohm of course had the top spot, but faced Tabby, Marco, and Maya in the tournament. First up came Marco and Ohm, air fist vs electrical fist. Para served the ball to Marco to start. He made minimal contact and air jabbed the ball at Ohm, who was prepared and bashed the ball back at a downward angle. The ball bounced off the sand and up at Marco from what should have been an unfavorable angle, but Marco surprised everyone by directing an air current around himself. It made sense that someone who could punch with air could in turn control it. The ball flowed around Marco as he moved along with it, ending in a flying kick back at Ohm. Ohm was surprised but not caught off guard, he was forced to open palm slap the ball away resulting in a miss and reserve. Next serve was to Ohm, who had charged up for a punch with few people noticing. The resulting impact shot the ball with enough force to cause a small sonic boom. ‘Ohm doesn’t seem to like being rebuked.’ Marco only had a split second to react but was only able to block the ball as best he could. He was blasted back several yards for Ohm’s round one victory.

Tabby and Maya were next, Tabby preparing beforehand by taking the form of a tiger. Maya inversely prepared a strong defense, no rule said you were out on hit, so Maya cemented down her feet and covered her arms in concrete. The resulting fight took a lot longer than expected, Maya was immovable, her circle shrunk around her immobile feet with every hit. Likewise Tabby was batting and dodging without fail, until her claws popped the ball… several times. Para had seen enough and ordered a sudden death. No powers, just raw strength, but no stepping outside of where their feet were. Maya squared up, taking a heavy stable stance. Tabby instead took up a normal stance, but her loose body language said she was prepped for something. Para served the ball to Maya who slammed hard. Out of nowhere, Tabby reacted with a swift and trained ballerina-like spin on in place, kicking the ball with her other foot and spinning it back at Maya from an odd angle. Maya’s stable stance prevented her from turning sharp enough and her foot slid out of its position. She caught the ball, it spinning heavily in her hands as she cursed. Victory for Tabby, she even plied off her turn.

Last round, Ohm vs Tabby. Normal rules, but Para added a wrinkle. He replaced the weighted and tough medicine ball with a standard rubber kickball. And popping the ball would result in a loss. Both combatants had to control their strikes, and claws in Tabby’s case, or they would knock themselves out. Seth eyed the kickball a little, something seemed off about it. Overinflated perhaps? The stage set, Ohm charged up a strike much like before, but Tabby took on a different form. It looked like a stocky house cat with a short tail, greyish tan fur with black stripes and bands. It was cute but he didn’t understand the reason. Para served to Ohm first, aware of his charged up attack from the looks of things. From a resting position he sprang a quick jab at the ball as it passed in front of him, not using all the energy he had stored up. The ball gave off the nostalgic hollow sound Seth expected, but it seemed oddly pitched up. The ball careened toward Tabby at what can only be said to be a little too fast for a kickball. But Tabby seemed to be prepared with near equal speed, jumping up and meeting the ball with a kick upward. The rules never said anything about a double hit, so Tabby launched the ball upward to kill its excessive momentum that would have popped it had she hit it normally. Off her inertia, she began twirling in place like a ballerina again, arms held in and one leg held high. It was pretty clear she’d taken classes. A locked in spin kick met the ball on its way down. The ball spun wide, but looped back over in a helical path that grew narrower and narrower as it reached Ohm.

The ball closing in fast, Ohm did something different. He pulled his arms into his suit top, scrunching up into it at the last minute. As the ball was reaching him he ducked out of the padded shirt, pulling it off with his arms still inside and pivoted out of the way, putting his arms out and stretching it out like a net. But instead of stopping the ball, he pivoted again and spun around with the ball in his makeshift catch. As he completed a revolution he popped the suit tight, forcing the ball out like a playground catapult. Thankfully Ohm put his shirt back on as the ball relatively lazily flew back to Tabby. She prepped to jab the ball back but a glint caught her eye from the ball’s facing surface. She shifted and caught the ball instead, stopping it just short of hitting her chest, and depressing the sewing needle pressed into it. “What the hell!?! You put a needle in…” Ohm was shifted, a finger gun pointing right at Tabby and the needle. “Bang!” An almost imperceptible flash and the ball exploded in a brief fireball in her hands and knocked her back and out of her circle. Somehow he had snuck one of Kabar’s sewing needles into the ball as he caught it, putting it in just enough to maintain integrity and allow access to the contents inside. The contents being hydrogen gas he ignited with his electric finger gun. The round looked over, and Para was… unperturbed?

He stepped out onto the field and called both combatants in, turning them toward the rest of the trainees, Tabby still smoking and growling at Ohm smugly smiling back. “Welp… looks like no victors today.” Ohm pushed off of him. “WHAT!?! But I knocked her out, not to mention she caught the ball first.” “Like hell that would win you anything.” Tabby stuck her still cat tongue out at Ohm across Para. “You put a needle in the ball, that’s tampering if I’ve ever heard of it.” “SHUT IT THE BOTH OF YOU!!!” Both combatants recoiled as Para yelled at them a little too loudly. “Ohm, tampering and distance power usage equal cheating. But it was inventive I’ll give you that. Tabby, it’s your job to be prepared for anything and everything, even cheating. You still caught the ball, which was against the rules, but that was still good form despite the loss. Wasn’t expecting black-footed cat, but it’s understandable given the required reaction speeds. You both did well, you just fucked it up at the end and lost it for the both of you.” The fight was well and truly over, and no one was really happy, but getting that small amount of praise from Para seemed uplifting at least. The only real question left was where did the- “AAAGGHHH!!!” Everyone turned to Razor, scrunched in pain holding his leg, a sewing needle sticking straight up out of his foot. Ohm shrugged as he moved over to him and pulled the needle out. “AArrrgh!!” “Sorry, never know where it’s going to land till it does.” He flipped the needle around in his hand as he handed it back to Kabar. “I think you dropped this?” Kabar was beet red as he snatched it away, franticly pocketing it and threatening to burn a hole through Ohm’s head.

The final day of this week though turned out to be one of the most grueling and horrifying tests these trainees would ever face. To think that Para would stoop so low as to torture the recruits under his care in such a way. “That he would even imagine this would be acceptable is beyond my understanding. How could he…” “What the hell are you doing Aegis?” The trainees were lined up as usual, Aegis for her part was looking over a written up lesson plan and very obviously hamming up her reaction. And Para had walked up behind her without her noticing. “N-nothing. Just… readying the trainees. Heh.” Para walked past her with clear not buying it face. “Okay recruits today is a special day. Instead of testing you on your physical control, we will be testing you on your mental fortitude, through the long lost art of monologuing.” *thunderclap* Para turned slowly to Aegis, holding her phone up as a sound board. Several beets passed before Para smiled… sinisterly. “If it’s such a terrifying subject Aegis, why don’t you join them in the fun?” “N-no no no, I’m goo…” Para grabbed her by the shoulder with malicious intent. “I insist!” He pushed her into line as she slumped in defeat. “Ugh, come on. There’s a reason it’s a dead art Para. No one monologues any more, even the villains have kept their speeches short. No one cares.” “All the more reason to learn. Besides, strength of character is still strength is it not. No better way to truly test their will than through public speaking.”

Several of the trainees mirrored Aegis in her slump of defeat, groans and grumbles abounded. David raised his hand shakily. “Do we have to perform it here?” Para eyed him like an unforgiving theater instructor. “Yes, where else would you perform?” David looked around the arena at the smattering of heroes gathered watching. “But in front of so many people?” Para’s sinister smile took on a new level of villainous. “Oh no, there’s going to be much more coming. We sell tickets to these kinds of things.” The collective gasp and shock was monumental, even Seth’s suit looked shocked. “WHAT THE HELL PARA!?! We don’t hold concerts!! And we sure as hell don’t sell tickets!!” Aegis practically charged him like he just smacked her with a baseball. “Hey don’t look at me. HQ sent me the proposal, and said it would be a worthy test.” “HQ? ...Oh don’t you fucking dare tell me that-” “Yup, this was your father’s idea.” “FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUuuuuugggghhh” Aegis slumped all the way to the ground, her defeat so total and heinous that it was felt by everyone. Unable to find a way out, she returned to the lineup in surrender. “Okay… You have 1 hour. Your personal terminals have been sent all the reference materials you could ever need. You will each choose a famous, or infamous, monologue to recite. Make a list, its first come first serve. If you truly can’t choose you may create your own from scratch, but your target will be me. So be prepared to face the consequences. Tell me your choice here. After an hour you’re getting your monologue chosen for you. The performance starts at 7:00 PM. You have the rest of the day to write or prepare. Don’t expect that kind of luxury again. Your time starts… NOW!!”

Most of the trainees scrambled back out, a few meandered in thought or smugness respectively. Seth walked back in thought, he knew a few good monologues but just felt they were pretty stupid. He wouldn’t be able to get into character for them. Before he left the arena floor he stopped. “*sigh* Yeah, no real option.” He turned around and saw Aegis, Kabar, and Cleo still on the line in front of Para. He walked back, clear as to his choice. “So Tinman, you’ve gotten over your indecisiveness. Speak, what’s your choice?” Seth smirked and shrugged off his hostility. “Honestly I don’t have any other choice than to write my own. I couldn’t get away with anything else.” “You’re joining Toaster then. You’d better get your facts straight, I don’t intimidate easy. Aegis, you picked one yet?” Aegis was still holding her head in begrudging thought. “Do I even have a choice? My dad always retold his Longest Day speech at every social event he could. It doesn’t help that I was there when he made it.” “I’ll make sure to have it recorded so Rampart can feel proud of you.” “I’m going to fucking kill you.” “Not if you die on stage first… Princess what’s your, more than likely, disturbing choice?” Cleo was swaying back and forth with her hands behind her back, only adding to the apprehension over what she’s chosen. “Iiii… choose Miss Malfeasance’s Address to the World speech circa 1989.” Everyone looked over at her with surprise. That speech was made as a last ditch attempt to sway the world from cruelty and sorrow as Miss Malfeasance lay dying from her own abstract power. It was the last time the Gods’ Chosen ever deployed because of the guilt felt by Athena’s Counter for killing her. “That’s… a good choice Princess. Please don’t try to explain it to us, you’d only ruin it.” Para’s uncomfortable look only cemented as Cleo smiled back. “Okay.”

The rest of the trainees came back piecemeal over the hour, some giving fairly okay choices. General Advance speaking at Major Nugyen’s funeral, Gold Breaker’s condemnation of the Terror Matrix, Burning Eagle’s League founding speech to the UN. A lot of great choices, and thankfully no Para’s choice. ‘I do not even want to think of what he’d have chosen if given the chance.’ Everyone set, the class was dismissed to prepare for what is likely to be the most stressful event of their lives.

Seth prepared a short speech, more of a physical performance piece incorporating his suit into certain moments for added effect. As he took a break from writing to get food he could hear the other trainees practicing in their rooms. A few even sequestered themselves in the stands of the arena to get a better understanding of their audio. He passed the front desk on the way to the canteen, catching site of the placard for tonight’s event. A twenty five dollar entry fee and full billing of everyone’s choices. From the feel of things it seemed this was planned well ahead of time. ‘Guess Aegis really got left in the dark as well.’

By six o’clock the audience was streaming in. Seth had completed his speech, but could only really hope things went well. But something else felt off as he hauled his suit to the ready room. The audience was too big, plenty of the trainees probably had family coming, but some of these people looked nothing like oratory fans. Other heroes obviously, but normal civilians too. He overheard a few conversations as he sat prepping in the hall. They sounded like they had seen something like this before, like they were expecting something more the just reciting. ‘Expect the unexpected, Para’s prepared to make things harder.’

Seven o’clock. The trainees were waiting in one of the side ready rooms, no outside contact except Mediknight guarding the door. They could just barely hear Para playing up his role as master of ceremonies through the arena walls. Slowly the noise died down and the faint sound of Aegis’ performance started up. Seth had never done much research on the Longest Day, but he couldn’t really avoid a speech like this. They had let… ‘er were forced to let' Rampart do a TV special rendition. It was highly influential, but… *rumble* not immediately violent. The trainees all looked toward the door as the arena rumbled with heavy powered hits. They could just barely hear Aegis bellowing rather reminiscently. ‘Rampart will at least be proud of her some more.’ But what was going on in there?

Mediknight leaned into his ear as the rumbling died down and the last grand overture filled the arena. “David, you’re up first.” He stood up, putting the speech he had printed out down on his chair, shaking the whole time as Para’s MC act returned under a raucous applause for the performance. As he left he turned back, terrified eyes looking to the rest of the group. But his terror abated as he got a thumbs up and silent encouragement from Jacob and Maya. ‘Someone made some friends.’ The door closed and a hushed tone took over yet again.

The walls were too thick to hear fully, but what could be heard was definitely more than a recital. He had chosen General Advance’s speech, his confession of love for his sworn enemy, but Seth was sure that it wasn’t so choppy. Or required so many punches and water splashes. Mediknight returned and stood in front of the entryway. More looks of concern permeated the trainees, but most looked like they expected as much. At least Seth wasn’t the only one. No one said a word as what was absolutely the sounds of a fighting recital turned to a hush, then to applause. Jacob and Maya seemed elated, Seth just smiled. ‘Good for him.’

Each trainee was called up one by one, and as far as anyone could hear they all received applause at the end of their performances, though each still encountered some kind of resistance to their oration. Soon only Kabar and Seth were left to perform as Mediknight came back in from escorting Cleo. The applause she received was particularly thunderous, people really hold Miss Malfeasance in high regard despite the fact she almost sent the world into an artistic and abstract dark age. Mediknight didn’t lean in this time, he stayed still as the applause died down to silence.

“Okay. It's time.” He turned around to the entryway without saying who was up. Seth and Kabar shared looks before he turned back. “It’s both of you, now come on.” Seth was sure this was going to get bad fast if they had to recite simultaneously. Kabar thumbed toward himself as they got up to leave. “I call first dibs.” Well that settles that at least. “No problem just… don’t flub up too much.” All three walked around the corner to the arena door, walking through into the nearly pitch darkness. The only light was a spotlight on the central ring. Both walked in and stood at its center. They looked around the darkness for any sign, but found none, until another spotlight lit up revealing Para standing a few yards away. “Last, but very much not least.” Para’s voice boomed across the arena, unassisted by speakers. “We have custom recitations performed by our last 2 orators. Toaster and Tinman.” Kabar and Seth both slumped in disappointment at the disrespect. It was really feeling like he’d forgotten their names at this point. “Gentlemen, if you would please.”

Kabar made a show of turning to regard Seth to signify he was first. He followed suit and bowed out respectfully. Kabar stanced up, folded his arms in to look tougher, then wound himself up and sprang back pointing at Para in his spotlight. “If you think intimidation and adversity are all it takes to break us, then you will soon learn that…” Kabar pivoted away as a sonic blast came flying in. He quickly pivoted back to meet… empty darkness. “We are not… so…” He trailed off slightly as Para was nowhere to be found. He scanned a little, but realized he was stalling. “So easily BROKEN!!!” He unfurled his lines, heating them until they glowed brightly. Seth at the edge of the circle felt he was about to become collateral damage, but also felt a rush of air and presence behind him. He kept his focus low, he shouldn't need the his power here, but when there's nothing else around its easy to judge movement. Seth rushed forward as Kabar noticed him as well, but a massive spin winding up to set the stage alight. Seth leapt as he released and ignited his lines into a fiery windmill, illuminating their part of the arena for a split second, and succeeding in wrapping one of the lines around Para’s stopping foot.

Seth landed heavy behind Kabar as he pulled at the line. “My flames, the heat of my courage, will burn away your evil this day!! I hope you brought butter and jam, because you’re the one GETTING TOASTED!!!” With a swift step forward, he whipped his line hard, flaring it to near white hot levels. The flare rocketed away and nearly reached Para as stood straight up. But all he did was point a palm down at the line tugging at his ankle. A sonic blast shot down right as the flare reached him, extinguishing it instantly and draping him back in darkness. The line went slack, leaving Kabar with nothing, but he dropped his head and gritted his teeth. “You make fun of us every chance you get! You belittle us with barely a second thought! You make it seem like you’re doing it with cause, but your justification is SHIT!!” Kabar’s lines reeled in but burned hotter and hotter. “You make us out to be novices stumbling in the dark!!” Seth felt Para again, behind, but different. The sound of metal meeting sand. “You tried to turn us away like we weren’t worthy!!” He’s rushing now, it’s unlike him, but Seth didn’t turn to face him. He ducked! “But my flames won’t be extinguished SO EASILY!!!” Kabar swung around with a flaming punch as Para dove into the spotlight with an opposite punch. Kabar’s landed first, flames haloing as the fist slammed him across the face and back into the darkness. The... fairly monotone face. The audience applauded the finish as Kabar posed up and smiled like he just won a brawl. Seth stood back up, fully aware it wasn’t over yet.

Kabar mimicked Seth’s bow out as he dropped back from the central spot. Seth took his place, loosening the straps on his suit pack and setting it down. He pulled it up out of its fold, setting it up in the center before putting a hand to it. He could feel the Garkah repeating his speech to him, even if he couldn’t fully hear it. “My life has not been as easy as you may think it has been. I’ve had to survive where most would say you couldn’t. I’ve had to strive for things you would probably say were foolish.” Seth could feel movement in the darkness, the different Para again… but multiples of him. “I’ve had to build more than just suits" That hand balled into a fist and rang the suit like a gong. "I’ve had to remake myself from scratch! And not in some… day spa or therapy session or whatever nonsense you think I can just pay for!” Seth whirled around and stared straight at the closest Para. “I’ve had to claw back from the brink more times than you could ever know! And each time” That Para sprang into the light, rearing back to punch Seth out of his monologue. But he ducked again, the Para slamming its fist into the suit with a metal on metal clang, one far lighter than his own. The suit didn’t budge, but Seth was shifting back up, catching the Para with an open palm to the chest on the way up passed it. Instead of pushing hard, he added tension to his arm. “I’ve come back stronger!!” In one fluid motion he dropped a leg and slammed the Para off its feet and down into the sand, crunching it from the force.

He rose back up through dissipating sand. “You think you’re dissuading me!” More Paras burst into the light, monotone expressions just like the others. Seth dropped back, the suit opening to accept him. He only put his arms in as he pulled the gauntlets off and closed them over his arms. The two Paras attack from his flanks, but their punches are caught with little effect. “You’re just making me FIGHT HARDER!!!” Seth twisted the Paras’ arms and whipped them forward, smacking the two Para’s off each other. “You think you’re discouraging me!” More Paras, a whole crowd of them surrounded the spotlight. Kabar had his back to the suit as he realized he was going to have to defend himself. Seth pulled back again, slamming himself into the suit fully. “You’re only making me want to succeed MORE!!” The helmet snapped shut with a resounding clang. The Paras reached Seth and begin wailing on the suit, sending clangs out like a missattuned chorus. He didn’t shift from the assault, but Kabar was about to be overrun by outflanking Paras. Seth pulled his head up, his voice carrying despite the chorus and metal. “You think I’m weak because I wield this suit!! That I’ll break like all the others!! NO!!!” Seth withdrew in, letting the Paras fall over him in a pile. Kabar noticed and rolled onto his back, springing up into the air out of the way. “It will take more than your BULLSHIT to BREAK ME!!!”

As Kabar bounded off of him, Seth reared back with force, sending Paras flying in every direction like he was the epicenter of a full metal explosion. At full extension Seth, balled right hard, meaty resonance carrying over the bodily rain. Without hesitation he brought it back down on a late Para, slamming it in the expressionless face. He continued to spin with the momentum, kicking up at one of the Paras on the ground nearby and sending it into another one running up. He left his other arm extended out, with little tactical reason. Kabar saw this on his way down and flung a line to it, wrapping around it. Seth wrapped and pulled the line in, grabbing it with both hands and increased his spin. Kabar, narrowly missing the ground as a result, ignited the line as the plan became clear. It caught the Paras as they tried to stand up, burning through them like a hot knife. The Paras fell limp into sparking piles of wires and plating, robots.

Seth roared up as he stamped and cut his inertia short. “AND MORE IMPORTANTLY!!!” As he ground to a halt, he yanked the line in towards him, emotionless view slits staring straight into Kabar’s eyes, feeling the real Para’s presence right behind him. Kabar pulled in and prepared a flying kick. The wreath of flaming line belying nothing, Seth turned and stared Para in the eye as well. He was caught off guard, halfway into his attack as Seth ducked, a full force flying kick slamming into a hastily brought up guard. Para was flung back into the darkness, Kabar backflipping off him to the side. Seth stood back up and popped his helmet open as the dust tried to settle. “Negative reinforcement really isn’t going to get you anywhere. You’re more than likely just going to lose out on great heroes because you couldn’t stop being an asshole to them. But hey,” Seth shrugged and turned around. “that’s just my opinion.” He slammed a hand out, meeting Kabar’s as the audience applauded the end of the performance. Kabar recoiling from the full metal high five and dead eyeing Seth as he smiled flat in “Sorry.”

The lights went out as the audience died down, leaving everything in darkness until a spotlight was shot over a podium along the arena’s edge. Para was stood at it, seemingly unfazed by the hit he took, fully prepared to continue as master of ceremonies. “Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for joining us for the performances today. I hope to see you all again at graduation. It is sure to be one for the history books.” Seth could see a tinge of anger on his face, he wasn’t expecting the unexpected it seemed. The lights of the arena came back on, blinding people slightly in surprise, but allowing them to get up and leave unhindered. At the bottom of the podium was a protected bench filled by the other trainees. They all seemed in high spirits, at least at Kabar. It might end up as false hope, but the audience never voiced their distaste. So, public shaming averted in the end at least.

Seth stepped out of his suit and folded it up again, but caught sight of the robots that had attacked him. With the lights on they no longer looked like Para, instead they seemed like some of those modified service bots that almost caught on a few years ago. Their chassis were tougher, but modifiable, and their servo motors were upgraded too. These were combat bots almost, but the real sticking point was the projected skin. Making holograms wasn’t new, and technology was advancing pretty excessively these days. But… this was physical. These combat bots wouldn’t have been able to stand up to the punishment he and Kabar put out, but the skin held them together somehow. Hardlight technology maybe, how did that not get publicized though? Seth took a last look around, but only caught the finest joule leaving the walls of the arena. They're hiding something it seems. Whatever reason for it, their presence was an omen for what was to come, Seth was sure of it. Training was about to get a whole lot more intensive.

The trainees funneled out to the foyer behind Mediknight, straight into the waiting arms of most of the audience. Jacob was quickly subsumed by a group of firefighters wearing similar outfits to his, just with more finery on them. Maya’s whole family were there as well, though as standoffish she felt about them, she still seemed happy to see them again. Kabar’s parents seemed… different to what Seth had expected. His mom wore the flame patterned super suit and his dad dressed like a professional tailor. David’s mom picked him up almost immediately, literally picked him up. She was huge, with a super suit in killer whale patterns. Razor seemed to slink off to the side and meet an older couple, his grandparents maybe. Kaz was nowhere to be seen rather quickly, but Seth caught him out of the corner of his eye walking away with his dad. Guess he didn’t want to be crowded by fans. Cleo walked up to a pair of rather normal looking women, that is until they saw her and quickly squealed and hugged like it had been longer than a month. It’s kind of weird seeing her with a normal family. Marco had his dad, he was wearing a similar gi and was a lot more energetic about showing off his son than Marco was about getting shown off. Alex… ‘Wait, where is Alex?’ Seth saw her go in but she disappeared pretty quickly. Guess she doesn’t want the public eye either. Tabby’s parents were easy to spot, the massive lion couple made things easy. Zeleny floated out over the crowd, but looked disappointed and floated down. Guess her parents didn’t show. Ohm… just stood back against the wall, watching everyone socialize. A man with a business suit, similar spiky hair, and a bodyguard walked up to him. Seth couldn’t hear what they said, but it was clear they were family. And a little bad blood ran between them more than likely.

And then there was Seth… alone. He hoisted his suit and went to go back to his room, not quite dejected, but still rather left out. As he passed the crowds he received mixed responses, most ignored him, others gave halfhearted praise, but a good chunk of heroes leered at him. Guess Para’s attitude toward him was common. He took most of it and continued on back to his room, thankful that at least that was over. And in a strange way, he felt better. The memories of the crisis were back to being memories, the ridiculous training distracting them away. He felt happy, and ready for next week, when he could start showing more of what he was capable of.