Monday morning the recruits were lined up, rested, and amped to finally get real hero training in. Aegis followed in shortly after, no Para to speak of. “Okay recruits, we finally made it to fight month. And not a single drop out either. Things are actually looking kind of nice for this class. This month will consist of training each of you to fight, either in your own style or in a more practiced one of your choosing. You still can’t use your powers on demand, we still need you to learn to fight without them, but don’t worry. Power month is looking to be special as well. Aaand, since Para took away the last week from me, I get to set the lesson plan for the month, starting with a full week of just my training.” The trainees lit up, no more berating, no more derogatory nicknames, and… Seth perked up slightly to get Aegis’ attention. “Yes, you can take the weight off your back.” He beamed in excitement. Most of the other trainees looked on in snide glances, but he didn’t care. “Finally!” He looped his thumbs under the leather straps he’d been borrowing and yanked fast and hard, snapping them instantly. The suit fell free like a ton of bricks, slamming down hard and kicking up a cloud of dust, to the surprise of the side eyeing trainees. “What? You thought it was cardboard or something? The armor plates alone weigh a thousand pounds, add in the frame and all the internals and you’ve got…” The trainees’ eyes were glazing over.

Aegis cleared her throat to get attention back. “Now then. You all probably expect things to be easier for you since Para is stuck on the sidelines, but-” *bwoo* “BUT DON’T EXPECT ME TO FORGET ANY MISSTEPS I CATCH!!!” The arena’s sound system wasn’t ready for Para to blare over it, and neither were the trainees. *bwo* “I may not be able to dictate the regimen, but I’ll be watching you like a hawk, and counting each and every mistake you make. Once I get command again, you’ll be expected to pay for every single one! Got it!” Everyone collectively lost most of their excitement. Aegis, a little ticked off she was losing her trainees drive, flicked her hand open. *bwooiii* A soft orange glow illuminated the control booth, followed by a few sparks. She cut the microphone cord with her shield, Seth didn’t even know she could use them offensively. “Now then. We got a bit of understanding of how you fight from your monologue performances. Sorry for leaving you in the dark about that by the way, always testing your preparedness. But I’m going to need a lot more from each of you. A light sparring session with a training dummy isn’t going to cut it.” Seth thought back to the swarm of Para clones he faced, they didn’t seem like just training bots. Not to mention fighting Para himself alongside them, or… at least Seth thought it was him. “So to get that better understanding, I’m going to need each and every one of you to fight me. Right now.”

The trainees looked at between each in surprise, and dread. Some knew full well what was ahead, but everyone was understandably apprehensive. “What? No takers. Fine, I’ll make it easier, you only have to land a single unblocked blow. You can all fight as one or try your luck individually. It won’t really matter much. Here I’ll even allow limited power usage, only movement related stuff, nothing directly offensive. And only blunt edges please, this suit doesn’t need any new holes in it. And of course, I won’t use my powers or my shield. Have to keep things fair, you know.” The apprehension was unabated, but slowly the trainees fanned out around her. Seth left his suit behind and moved wide behind everyone else. This just became a waiting game for whoever struck first, and what would happen to them for it.

The trainees surrounded Aegis in a loose circle, some bunching up in to teams. Maya, Jacob, and David. Kabar and Cleo. It looked like Kaz and Razor were also working together, just from opposite sides. M.J.D. set up behind her at the opposite side from Seth, Zeleny on their right and Marco on the left. Kabar and Cleo stood in front of Seth, with Alex and Tabby flanking them respectively. Kaz and Razor in the center line flanking Aegis. Ohm setup behind M.J.D., but hanged back near the arena wall.

The tension soon mounted. Fists tightened, whispers passed between team members, knowing glances and careful signs for those spread about. Everyone scanned from Aegis to each other and back to Aegis, no one wanted to make the first move. Seth took the lull as an opportunity, Ohm certainly was. Limited powers still meant he was allowed his, even if he was hiding it. He focused, listened. The whisper of the abyss seeping out at its edges. The chatter in the Garkah control room, they knew what he was attempting and were ready to regulate as best they could. He felt the whisper, let it flow into his hands, but didn’t pull at it. In one smooth figurative motion he cleaved the whisper from its escape, clenched it tight for what it truly was. That whisper became power, power he could use. But for some reason it writhed against him, absentmindedly giving more than he wanted. He strained to keep it down as the trainees moved at last.

His silence had been broken by Maya stomping forward, solid concrete armor formed around her. M.J.D. was stepping up to meet the challenge. Aegis turned to accept, but didn’t move from her spot. Maya set up in a blocking position, David and Jacob prepared behind her. Seth couldn’t see everything through his strain, but her heard David forming a water ball. Aegis waited patiently for whatever was about to happen. Suddenly the ball was flung between Maya’s legs, rolling along leaving a trail, a trail that quickly froze behind it. Without so much as a flinch, Aegis kicked the ball as it reached her, splashing it back as it froze, creating a spotty wall of ice. “Eh, at least you’re working together, but that wasn’t much of a- SHIT!!!”

The ice shattered revealing a water jetting concrete Maya sliding at speed down the frost path, with a loaded punch ready to fire. Aegis was surprised, but not off guard. She met the punch with a standard arm block, but leapt slightly backwards into the air to reduce the impact. She allowed herself to be pushed back, but quickly took control of the momentum. Her blocking arm rounded around Maya’s and midair pivoted her around. She let her foot drag the pair to a stop, but continued the pivot, swinging Maya around and hurling her back at her teammates. Her armor left her comparatively immobile and her attempts to free herself resolving too late. Maya was skipped back across the ice uncontrollably, right into David and Jacob prepping a follow up ice slide. She rolled into them, bowling them over and splattering freezing water and ice all over them. “wWoo, 3 down already. Just 10 more to go.”

Before Aegis could finish her celebration, Cleo and Kabar struck. Leather straps appeared all around her stipp pivoting foot, nipping like the world’s worst puppies. She kept her other leg up, but straps caught her pivot foot and held her in place while Kabar charged in. A line wrapped around a strap formed in the air right passed her shoulder and Kabar flung himself into yet another flying kick. Aegis was stuck in an off balance crane like stance, but looked far from helpless. She twisted, dodging the kick and power stamping Kabar in the face. As he recoiled, she grabbed his line and pulled herself out from the strap field, snapping the straps like they were hardly there. But she didn’t let go of the line just yet. She yanked hard, pulling the still air born Kabar face first into the field she just escaped. Straps slapped at anything they couldn’t wrap around, so mostly his face. Kabar thoroughly stuck in place, Aegis wrenched the line free from the leverage strap and borrowed his technique, charging and pulling herself forward over the, only just now, disapparating field. She took Cleo off guard as she slammed the ground just short, line still in her hand. A hard yank, and Kabar came flying over, dragged by his own line and turned into a human missile aimed straight for Cleo. They fell together in a tossed pile just short of Seth still internally straining but now thoroughly regretting this lesson. “8 left.”

Barely off relinquishing Kabar’s line, Aegis was flanked on all four sides by Zeleny, Marco, Tabby, and Alex. Tabby in the form of a lioness and Alex copying Aegis. They struck first and fast, rushing in and trying to punch through her defenses with a flurry of coordinated blows. Alex swinging in with a quick wide right and left jab and Tabby trying an overhead batting combo. Both were rebuked on the first swing, arm guards flashed up with perfect timing to throw their momentums off. They desperately continued their combos despite their ineffectuality. Each attack was blocked by Aegis with little movement on her part, just meeting each hit with her forearms, until Tabby swung her whole right side in an effort to get something through. Aegis pulled her right leg up alongside her right arm, meeting both of Tabby’s paws. Alex in the same instance tried to haymaker feint, but Aegis grabbed her hidden fist as her haymaker bounced off her forearm. This is when Zeleny and Marco finally made their move. Zeleny had flown over to Marco and pulled him up by his feet for a dive bomb drive by. Now that Aegis appeared preoccupied, the time to strike was now. Zeleny dove down at Aegis’ back and Marco prepped to slam an air fist into her, come what may.

Aegis turned her head as they gained speed, the whistling of powered flight seemed clear for a trained ear. She countered her current assailants, folding over her blocking right and grappling left, hooking them onto Alex and Tabby. She then forced her blocking right leg past Tabby’s, knocking her off her feet and giving Aegis control of her momentum as she forced her foot around. Both trainees were pulled and scrunched together into a human shotput and spun hard to the left. Zeleny saw this and tried to pull out of the dive, but couldn’t turn away quick enough with so much weight tied to her. Aegis completed her spin as Zeleny flew over, dipping slightly on the far end and releasing the doppelcat shotput straight up. Zeleny was slammed face to face, causing Marco to fall passed Aegis. He managed flow a current and right himself, landing on his feet. But landed right into Aegis’ range, the last bit of her momentum followed through into Marco’s side and tossed him away. The human fireworks fell behind her as she turned to regard Ohm juicing up at one of the arena’s power sockets. “4 to go, you guys better pick your game up. And you better believe you’re paying that electric bill!”

Ohm let go of the socket, his body practically exuding the power he collected. Nerves visible and illuminating his skin from the inside. Seth worried he might meltdown, but he just calmly stepped up to bat. “So I’m only allowed to use my powers for movement purposes right?” Ohm was talking, but every word elicited a lightshow of sparks between his teeth. ‘Jeeze he’s over juiced!’ Even Aegis was looking slightly disturbed. “Yup, no fancy electro punches here. Though with how long you take to get ready, it’s not like you’d really ever hit me with it.” Aegis made a show of smugly shrugging away from him, but it seemed like Ohm was too far gone to pass the opportunity up. She looked back down in time to see that he was already three feet in front of her, a burned streak of lightning in his wake propelling him. And his expression a cross between a manic episode and a cutlery set in the microwave. Even his eyes were sparking on the inside. The power in his legs was still flaring, he’d focused most everything there and shot forward at almost unimaginable speed. A small sonic boom resounded as Aegis blocked for dear life.

A charged right hook, three spread out left jabs, right round house, left crane kick, all this in just the two seconds after he shot forward. Aegis met each attack with a block, but he was getting faster as more electricity was discharged. One-two combos, no four-six, ten-twelve, this shits getting out of hand. His combo was causing a friction fire, the padding on Aegis’ arms was smoldering. Ohm finished his combo with a right sweeping kick across the smoldering pads, practically igniting them. Aegis was finally recoiled at this, head kept low behind her guard. That was all Ohm needed, he used his kicks momentum to swing a massive right around. But as he swung back around he saw that Aegis had released her guard, arms dropped to her sides. He disregarded this and charged his fist in without care. A bolt of lightning shot from his elbow, propelling his punch beyond his previous speed. But his punch hit nothing but air. Seth caught her move in his increasing perception. She turned sideways and slipping passed, dragging a left hand behind her, raising it to Ohm’s face and slammed it into him. She clotheslined him, his body retaining its inertia and flowing forward, desperate to defy the force applied. But Aegis wasn’t done, she pushed forward and down, dropping a leg and dropping Ohm. She slammed his head into the arena floor, undoubtedly knocking him unconscious and finalizing the perceptive disparity between them. She rose back up, the focused and cold expression she was wearing dimmed into facetious concern.

“Sheesh, it’s like he doesn’t understand limits or something. Having that much power is fine, but if you can’t even control yourself with it then what’s the point. Oh, and that’s 9. So who’s ne-? Shit! Shit!” Aegis’ arm padding flared up again as she struggled to pat it down. “Ugh, you asshole, it’s not like suits like this grow on trees or something.” She says knowing full well that several of her trainees are wearing surplus suits exactly like hers. Seth, Razor, and Kaz, gave her looks saying as such. “…Hey this suits special okay. You all got hand-me-downs you can just replace, mine can’t be!” Through the embellishment Seth could see a hint of sincerity. ‘Don’t tell me that’s really the same suit after all this time.’ The weird thought broke his strain, but even the abyss found that odd. “Anyway, you guys going to fight or what?” Kaz and Razor both looked across her at each other, they could see they were outmatched, or Kaz could see it and Razor at least followed his lead. They lowered their weapons. “Ah come on don’t chicken out just because everyone else failed. You still have a chance, those blades of yours are sure to give you some kind of advantage.” Kaz smiled glumly a little, but Razor reprised his delinquent demeanor. “And risk you killing us for cutting your suit slightly!?! HELL NO!!!” Aegis chuckled. “Fine be that way. So then. All that’s left is you.” She stared down Seth, still smiling. “Let’s see if you’ve really improved since enrolment.”

Seth had kept his hold of the power he cut, kept it contained and under control despite its protests. It wasn’t much compared to its source, but it could still cause problems if left unchecked. Despite this, he held it and maintained himself. But now it was time to let it go and use it. He focused, the power shot through his muscles, spread thin but still viable. He breathed in, tensing, he breathed out, releasing. He dropped forward, a somewhat feigned faint, but didn’t offer any time to mistake the façade. He put his foot down and looked ahead, the slightest flicker of powered perception behind his eyes as a sudden burst of sand away like a piece of shrapnel leaving an explosion. Running low to the ground, he skimmed a left uppercut nearly across the sand as he approached Aegis at speed. She blocked, the fist harmlessly sliding to the right, but Seth kept going. The momentum spun him, swinging his right leg over for a stamp. Aegis kept her guard up as the foot passed by without striking. An extended left leg came into battery, threatening to hook a foot past her guarding arm. She shifted to catch his shin as he shifted in midair. But that was a third feint. Seth twisted himself around, bringing his right back into place to flying kick Aegis in the chest. She had barely enough time to pull her left arm up to block as he kicked off, knocking her back and flipping over to face her. He stopped his momentum dead with his hands and feet, digging into the sand.

Another burst of sand shot him off immediately, both hands held low, Aegis maintaining her guard even as she still recoiled backwards. He threw a flurry of punches into her guard, disrupting her balance further until she almost fell over, but then she really fell backwards. Her body pulled backwards like a gymnast, arms outstretched to catch the ground. Seth whiffed his last punch and fell forward, narrowly falling on top of the now backflipping Aegis. But instead he found himself between her legs, shins hooking under his arms like a violent forklift. She backflipped with force, pulling him over and flinging him like a catapult. He tumbled into a half-baked summersault, bouncing off the sand on his butt rather than his neck. He was tossed over once more before he cut his momentum, sliding to a stop on his back with his heels and elbows dup into the sand. He looked back up to reacquire her but found her still backflipping and threatening to stick the landing on top of his head. He twisted to the left, narrowly avoiding her forceful landing. He pulled his legs back behind him as Aegis shifted out of her landing to kick him while he was down. On all fours, he swept forward under the kick, and striking at the other leg with his own. Aegis threw herself forward to avoid. Seth shot up as she tumbled forward in a somersault of her own, both turning back to face each other again.

A beat passed. The preceding tussle was over in seconds, but both appeared winded. “Well you’re certainly more flexible than I expected.” Aegis gave him a halfhearted smile. “Nothing to weigh you down right? But... you’re still not quite there yet. The thing is, we still need to see if you can take as much as you give. So… sorry about this.” Seth tensed, ‘The hell?’ Aegis suddenly shot forward with almost no notable motion, a fresh guard firmly in place, and a slight whistle in her wake. Seth tried to meet her charge, but a right kick came screaming into his side before he could react. He was shot to the side, rolling uncontrollably. He righted just barely, skidding to a stop face down as a shadow encroached over him. He flipped violently, bringing his arms together in a desperate guard as Aegis slammed down on him from above. The impact rippled the floor, aerosolized the sand, and emptied his lungs. Perception thoroughly bashed to pieces, Seth hacked as Aegis pulled him up back upright by his collar. “*hu* So much for not using your powers.” Aegis recoiled slightly in surprise. “Hey I said you could use your powers for movement. So what if I did the same… a little. And besides, you-” *flick* Aegis blinked off facetious lecturing with Seth's hand in her face. He'd just flicked her on the forehead. A pained smile growing to meet the blank look she gave. “I win.” “…”

Aegis looked annoyed for a second, but quickly grew wide eyed. “Th… That doesn’t count!” “You said all we had to do was hit you once without getting blocked. You didn’t block that so… I win.” Seth kept smiling, a slight drip of blood running out of his mouth. Aegis half smiled trying to laugh off her technical defeat, but quickly deflated and set Seth down out of concern. She probably over did it. He wobbled a little, holding his chest in mild pain. ‘Yup that’s not where a rib should be.’ He felt it realign under his hand as he focused and pulled it back into place. Garkah healing is best healing. Mediknight broke through the falling dust cloud around them to see if he was needed, but only saw an unscathed Aegis slumped and disappointed in herself and a still slightly hacky and internally bleeding Seth smiling in pyrrhic victory. “Do I even want to know what happened in here?” The cloud dissipated and the rest of the flash triaged trainees came back into view, most slumped against the wall of the arena. Aegis turned in mostly exaggerated defeat. “Nothing… I just lost. UGH, Para is really not going to let this die.” Seth hacked a little, but laughed. “Just wait, he’ll probably say I just got lucky or something. Speaking of which… I’m going to go lie down now.” Seth stepped toward the triage wall but faceplanted into the ground unconscious. The Garkah taught him to heal the pain away not block it. He also used up a lot of energy in that fight just holding all that power back. That was that lesson down at least.

The trainees were patched up and sent to lunch, a well-deserved reward for surviving a fight with one of the Elite. They returned though to find training canceled for the day, and few really objected as the hobbled back to their rooms. The next day they were rested, rehabilitated, and had recuperated some amount of pride in themselves. Aegis met them, a little less chipper since technically losing, but still set for what was ahead. “Okay, today is bit of a different day. First up is proper critique of all of your fighting styles. I’ll be leading that as expected. But after that is course work… led by Para.” The trainees looked puzzled. They heard him talk about an education before but still didn’t understand what that was about. David raised his hand and voiced as such. Aegis shrugged. “*sigh* I… really don’t know. It will probably be some kind of study of villains or power types. That would make sense, but it's Para. So never let your guard down.” Aegis seemed like she knew a little about what was coming, but could only speculate and dread it. “At any rate, that’s later. For now let’s get to fighting critiques. Also sorry this had to wait until today, got called in after lunch. Couple thefts in the industrial sector needed attending to.” Seth could barely tell, but there was a bit of resentment in her tone for some reason. Despite that, the trainees and Aegis moved off the line and on to one of the arena’s sideline benches. No sense taking up the central area for just talking.

It looked like the M.J.D. was up first. “You three certainly took the inventive route, an ice slip and slide for an immobile teammate is technically movement based per the rules. It’s just incredibly slow. If I wanted it, Maya wouldn’t have even had to reach me for her to be sent barreling back into you guys. Also, you two were so caught up in your second attack that you didn’t even check to see if your first even landed. I mean having faith in your teammate is good in all, but don’t take your eyes off the battle. All in all, focus on speeding up your reactions and… maybe more independent strategies.” The three looked down a little, but were at least not discouraged. Next was Kabar and Cleo. “You two, okay you really had me going there… until you didn’t. Kabar, it might be a little too obnoxious to say, but you’re extending yourself too much. Your lines anyway. Their whips right, flaming searing whips. Use them as such more often. I mean, I know you were limited in your usage but they can still hurt when not on fire. Keep them moving when you don’t understand your enemy, and don’t let the enemy use them against you. Maybe get a knife or something to cut them when things get hairy. Cleo… the straps are useful, I will give you that. But they are too weak, and you keep yourself at too great a distance. Anyone strong enough will just bull-rush through them like their just really bitey grass, and you seem to only be able to conjure a limited set of them. You need to get closer, focus more on how you can use them around you and not just around your enemy. Like say use the straps to create a full body suit of leather armor and I’m already regretting telling you to do that… J-just diversify your attacks okay. Try augmenting yourself with them and not just immobilizing your enemies.” Kabar shrugged at the suggestions, but Cleo was already visualizing her full body leather armor and ‘Oh god please get these thoughts away from me!’

Aegis stepped up to Tabby and Alex next. “Good form, good reaction times, but not understanding when to break off your attacks is going to cost you. Your flurries were getting blocked at every turn, but you kept at it. This has merits, but you were just opening yourselves up to what happened. The same goes for you two.” Aegis moved to Marco and Zeleny. “Always strive to understand your enemies. I’m a flyer by blood, I know when someone is dive-bombing me just by sound alone. You should focus on what your enemy knows best and avoid their expertise if you can’t hope to match them in it. Also Marco you need to up your reaction time. You could have used your air powers to missile straight down on me as I worked out my momentum, but instead you were surprised and got tossed aside. Your martial arts would have been better suited supporting the copycat crew then wasted on an ill prepared sneak attack. A little Occam’s razor maybe. Speaking of Occam’s razor.”

Aegis moved up to Ohm, pulling out a piece of paper from one of her pockets. “Technomancer tabulated up your power usage. Here’s that bill I said you would owe.” Aegis handed off the page to a sneering Ohm, who looked at it briefly and back at Aegis before snapping back down to it with a look of pure monetary horror on his face. “18,000!!! It was just a few kilowatts, what do you generate and charge a premium!?!” “You pulled several hundred kilowatts through unsupported lines and narrowly cut power to the entire base. Most of that is repair cost.” Ohm deflated but kept sneering. “Let me guess, you’ve already billed my dad?” “Yup.” “Wonderful. You even need to critique me at this point?” “Yup. You over did it. You pulled in too much power and went crazy from it. Its effective in a pinch, but as an opener it’s stupid. Without any self-control you leave yourself open to counter attacks. You’re more predictable, too focused on your enemy.” As she was about to continue, Aegis reached into her other pocket and produced another slip. “Almost forgot, here’s my tailoring and dry-cleaning bill.” Ohm sneered hard, he was getting bilked, but he also kind of deserved it.

“You two blade boys. I’m going to commend your self-control to a point, but everything passed that is cowardice. I’ll admit I can get a little scary sometimes. This mostly applies to you though Razor. You held off because you saw Kaz holding off. You need to focus on your enemy, not just your ally. You need to find your own timing and then work out your attacks in tandem. Kaz you gave up a little too easy. You could have at least taken a swing, come on. The two of you are going to be getting a double session tomorrow. No spoilers, but you’re getting it twice.” Kaz took his criticism with a respectful bow, but Razor seemed to take his hard.

Aegis finally turned to Seth, hamming a dismissive pout as he met her with the same smile as before. “So… what’s there to critique for me?” “Hmph. Maybe you don’t deserve one.” She folded her arms and turned her nose up in facetious curmudgeon. “Oh fine. You did good, kept your cool at least. Still feel you punch above your weight class a little. Your fighting style is all over the place, and definitely hard to predict. But-” Aegis came in close, bending over to get in Seth’s face and whisper with none of the joking around from before. “You’re holding back too much. You fought yourself more than you fought me.” Seth lost his smile, unable to hide as much as he could before. She was… a little too close. “H- how did you…” Aegis reared back up with a prideful smirk. “What, you think you get to this level without learning a thing or two? I know you are capable of a lot more than what you showed off yesterday. Hell you didn’t even do that whole assassin step thing you did to Para. You could have fought a lot harder, but you didn’t. Holding back is an art form, you need to balance out to your opponent.” Aegis pulled back, the ire of the other trainees still somewhat firm on Seth. “Alright, take what I said and prepare for tomorrow. But for now I guess your Para’s.”

Aegis filed the trainees into one of the ready rooms, modified with proper tabled seating and a projector. Almost like a regular classroom. Para stood at the projector, still as hardassed as ever but… somewhat dour. Seth sat near the back, he had maintained his place at the end of every line so he wasn’t spoiled for choice in where to sit. Once everyone was in, Para hit the lights and started his presentation. The projector hummed as the first slide showed itself. An old photo, looked to be 1940s. It was an odd group of G.I.s posing in front of a cargo plane. Seth actually recognized them, it was Mavers’ Marvels, one of the first official military units to be formed completely of supers. The Ember Harrier, later Burning Eagle. The team required code names and a few motifs stuck around. He ended up creating the UN’s super force and founding the League through it. Corporal Advance, later General. They denied his first choice so he decided to climb the ranks officially. He headed the US’s super force in the early days until Eagle started up the League. The Neptune’s Call from back then. The Gods’ Chosen liked to pass names down like this. Though, he died on this mission if Seth remembered correctly. And lastly Outrider, he just retired after the war. Was pretty understandable given the circumstance.

“You all have probably seen this photo before, the first team of supers ever assembled and officially recognized. Lt. General Mavers put this team together to spearhead deep infiltration operations into Nazi Germany. 2 of them went on to lead the U.S. and U.N. super units, and later declare their independence. This team founded the League we know today. But what you don’t know is that it also founded what would become the Terror Matrix.” Seth sure as shit didn’t know that, in fact most of the trainees didn’t. The only ones not taken aback by this were Kaz and Ohm. “Outrider, the one on the end looking like he walked into a western world war costume department fire. Officially he retired after the war, citing battlefield fatigue. In reality he had seen the writing on the wall, seen the super identifier programs in both the U.S. and Germany, heard stories of the programs in Russia.”

Para flipped the slide, another old photo of what looked like a concentration camp, but with the stars and stripes flying overhead. People in stark jump suits were lined up for roll call of some kind, a guard in heavy gear at every corner of the group. “Torture, blackmail, holding families hostage, even mental manipulation attempts. He couldn’t stand that people, his people, were being used and abused like that. Couldn’t bear the thought of all out super warfare, even as nukes were coming to the forefront.” Another slide. This one looked like a still from some early surveillance photography. A hooded figure with a smoldering lever action repeater leading a group of detainees out of one of the camps. “He went off the grid, gathered likeminded supers, and fomented rebellion against military controlled super programs across the globe. No one talks about this early team of his, much of the records were sealed or destroyed. All we really know is that by the time the League was signing the Kashmir Peace Accords, Outrider was dead and that radical elements controlled the Terror Matrix. They stopped caring about their original goal, became more anarchic, wanted to burn the system down rather than save their people from conscription and weaponization.”

Next slide, an iconic one. Gold Breaker giving his speech on the rubble of the Tombstone, a massive atomic artillery battery the Terror Matrix tried to fire at the world. “It wasn’t till Gold Breaker’s condemnation that the Terror Matrix finally lost any ambiguity and became the full on villain society that it was, with what few elements that subscribed to Outrider’s original ideals defecting or going into hiding. That was at least the beginning of the end for it. Guilt and ideal winning out over evil.”

Para hit the lights, a blank slide left on the projector. “I’m telling you all this because as heroes you will need to understand what motivates the people around you. You need to understand beforehand why someone does what they do, why they act the way they do. Leaving it unknown will only invite disaster. Outrider, instead of fighting against the injustice he saw in the open, opted to hide and work from the shadows. This fit the situation, and I’m not decrying him. But in doing so he accepted all who he saved. Gave them legitimacy despite the wrongs done to them. In committing to this unbiased recruitment, he ended up creating of one of the most destructive villain societies ever formed. He wasn’t able to reign in those too broken or radicalized by the early programs and we all nearly suffered because of it."

"You need to both ask your fellow heroes and ask yourselves, why are you here? Why do you want to be a hero? If you can’t tell them, can’t work in the open, can’t understand who you’re working with, then you’d better get packing, because you don’t belong here.” Para hit the lights again. “To that end I devised a few courses to get to the bottom of a few motivations I caught during training. I’ll start with the easiest catch all.” Para hit the slide again… bringing up a picture Seth hadn’t seen before, but one he knew all too well. It was a burned welcome sign on an equally burned out wooded road, a truck turned and shattered sat in the middle of the street behind it. The sign read “Welcome to Frigateville!” and Seth’s heart sank.

“6:43 AM, July 13th, 20XX, an, as of yet, unknown object lands hard in the middle of the intersection of Main and 15th Street in the northern Kadian region town of Frigateville. MWOS and NASA observers were unable to track the object, even when it entered atmosphere in direct line of sight of the MWOS Site 5 in the mountains north of the town. But the security cameras on site caught a few snippets of what occurred.” The slide changed to a video, old security camera footage, blurry and possibly corrupted. A streak of light is seen slamming down into the forested town far below the camera’s designated sweep area. “The impact was anomalous, its projected velocity was something close to 80 kilometers per second, but it didn’t level the entire area and set off Richter scales all across the globe. When we found it after the fact, it had just imbedded itself into the ground, leaving a fairly contained crater that took up the intersection.” The footage continued on with only the smoke plume rising over the town. “But the real issue came at 6:48, just 5 minutes later. The footage couldn’t catch it all, but as you can see…” Flashes and illuminations spread out over the town. “The footage caught something happening to the town.” The footage cuts off as a massive flare erupts from the center of town. The internalized terror Seth was having subsided as it turned to static without revealing too much. “This was the earliest footage we have of the Laceroid Crisis. We still don’t know fully what happened to the town, expeditions to the site were hampered by the spreading wildfires ignited during the fighting. What little we could find offered even less than the footage.” Suppressed relief washed over him. He never even contemplated all the empty ingredients cans and cereal boxes he left back in town, let along his mattress fort. “All that we do know is that, around 7:06 AM, these things came tearing through the town of Brighton.”

The slide flipped, and Seth’s relief was battered. A soldier's helmet cam footage... footage of the defensive line he passed leaving out of Brighton. It shakes violently as it catches the first and last wave of Laceroids smashing into the line from the still burning town. The reptilian horrors getting gunned down by massed fire, but continuing on. Soldiers fleeing as the tanks beside them were torn open. Those same soldiers getting eviscerated as they fled. Then the footage pulled away from the ground, the soldier turning up to see he was being carried away by a super. It cut off as the soldier turned back down to the devastation below, a sea of kicked up dust, fire... and death. “This was the only surviving footage we have from First Contact.” Seth’s heart was in his throat, he could hear kindred groans and whimpers from the other trainees. No one can be prepared for people dying like that.

The slide changed with an errant gasp, but tensions calmed quickly. It was an artist rendition and statistic sheet on a standard Laceroid. Instead of the burned and battered scales Seth remembered, this had grey clean ones. The claws and teeth were clean of the caked in dust, but its eyes were the same red hue, save for the green irises. “And this is the best we can muster as to what these things were. The average height was between 6 and 10 feet tall. Average weight could only be guessed at, but was estimated to be around 400 to 600 pounds. And that’s not fat either, that was muscle pure and simple. The force behind their attacks was measured to be in excess of 600,000 N. That’s a truck slamming into you at 60 miles an hour with every swing. Their claws and teeth were their primary weapons, to say they were like honed metal blades is understating it. But the real issue was their healing ability. Each Laceroid contained between 30 and 50 megajoules of stored energy. The what, how, and why they have it are still under deep discussion. What we know is that the energy was used to fuel exceedingly fast cellular regrowth, including skeletal structures and even grey matter. How this was done without lighting themselves on fire from the sheer exertion is also up for debate. The only saving grace in this horrific package deal was that their base was human.”

A collective sense of unease resounded among the trainees. “From what tabulations we were able to do during the fighting, and from what reconnaissance we had of their spread, we know that these things all came from Frigateville. And there numbers lined up a little too well with the town’s population. Around 50,000 of these things killed hundreds of thousands. Now, this isn’t a direct causation, only numerical correlation, but with the evidence we have now it’s the accepted hypothesis. But back to that weakness. Since they used to be human, they still had a human mental signature, brain waves and such, I don’t know I’m not a neuroscientist. This human side of their brains meant they had human emotions, which was corroborated by a large number of firsthand accounts. Looks of desperation, uncontrollable crying, a few instances of fucking laughter. These emotions prevented the Laceroids from fighting indefinitely, most fleeing when pain or fear were introduced in intolerable amounts, but those tolerances were high.”

Slide change, a picture of the blood stained road out of Frigateville, judging from the cars that Seth could hardly stop himself from remembering. “Their appetites, on the other hand, were something else entirely. Every living breathing thing, people, animals, insects, birds, even the fucking worms in the damn soil. They ate everything barring the plants and the trees beyond the wall. The bodies of the dead were just gone, nothing but blood stains left on hard surfaces. We still don’t know the full casualty numbers. In the same vain we still don’t know the exact number of Laceroids there were. That’s because, like I said, when a Laceroid is injured it uses some of its stored energy to heal. A few instances of extra accelerated healing after… feeding… mean that their hunger wasn’t just for show either. But in the end they had a finite amount of energy to use. Once this energy was used up something weird occurred. Their molecular structure broke down, causing them to burst from the relieved density of their bodies rapidly decomposing and denaturing. What was left was nothing but desiccated flesh and dust, the matter and molecules that made them up broken apart. Theories abound, but the predominant one is that the energy kept them together, like they were some horrifying energy homunculi. Whatever it was, it left nothing to study and nothing to count reliably.”

The slide finally flipped, this time a brochure photo of Brighton. “The first town hit and subsequently the area of greatest casualty. As I said, at around 7:06 AM the Laceroids swarmed into Brighton. Smashing through walls, demolishing whole buildings, igniting fuel stations and gas mains. All in pursuit of food. The first news of the crisis came from the Brighton PD morning dispatcher, Martha Laurie. She heard the cries and screams of her officers over the radio and called it in, staying at her post to relay what she could see through her building’s windows. Until it was too late. The first units to investigate were flyers that just happened to be in the area, Aurora Alice and Tunguska. Some kind of early morning date they had planned. They made it to the scene in minutes, but they tried to help a group of fleeing civilians. They were dead before they even understood what they were fighting. Their radios caught everything, and a full response was called in. The Fort Terrace military base was the closest available muster point, and a good number of the bases families lived in Brighton, so the League’s first response was augmented with a few platoons of National Guard, armored cavalry, and tanks. The army was set up outside of town by 5:00 AM the next day. Several hero teams had already reconnoitered the situation, with most of them losing their lives because of it. They at least gave the first reports as to the scope of this crisis. Stratosphere, Aegis’ mother for those that don’t know, correctly guessed that the Laceroids were spreading out from a single point, and the group in Brighton was starting to disperse. She helped mobilize air units from surrounding bases into a defense line around the forests surrounding both towns, but the smoke from Brighton hampered and any deep recon.”

The slide changed back to the defense line footage, but it was paused before the line fell apart. “First Contact, as it came to be known, came at 8:53 AM, Day 2. The units on the ground were obliterated. What few convoys of civilians that managed to be gathered up behind them were hunted down. Only 5 of the reported 12 vehicles made it away. The hero casualties were just as bad. 26 heroes stayed on the line with the army, only one made it away. The flyer who pulled this soldier away.”

The slide flipped again, a satellite image of the crisis area. Smoke seen billowing from Brighton. “Command ordered immediate withdrawals across the entire area. Delaying and distraction units were set up and dispatched to cover this, but even those suffered casualties. A full reevaluation of this crisis was ordered, and every military and League base in the continental United States was activated. Soon heroes from across the globe began volunteering, The United Nations saw the devastation of the first few days and offered complete support. By Day 6 an action plan was drawn up for a massive defensive line around the now officially cordoned off region surrounding Frigateville. A roughly 2000 square mile area. The idea for The Wall propagated from this. The plan was for a war of attrition, if forces couldn’t hold them off normally then the threat had to be contained and starved out. The Wall was put forth as a vast marvel of mechanical and technological ingenuity. Autofactories would be built to supply turrets and automated defense systems to defend it. All the while human involvement could be kept to a minimum to prevent further casualties. The distraction and delay units were made official, and flying heroes were sent into the field en masse to cover the formations.”

The slide flipped to what looked like gun camera footage from an attack helicopter. The grey scale thermal camera zoomed toward a large patch of dark spots in the distance before it shook as the gun fired. “Air units were called in to supplement the distraction force. True success was limited but it drove them into their holes. The only saving grace was the bastards’ appetite, it slowed their advance outward, and drew them away from the front lines. By Day 10 construction of The Wall was started in the area expected to meet the greatest resistance, Block 037 in the town of Berta.” The slide flipped to a photo of The Wall under construction, cranes, supers, and various machinery being used in tandem. “Construction took weeks to complete, the multinational force created to facilitate it worked round the clock pulling material, labor, and equipment from every corner of the globe. Active sections of the wall were under assault almost immediately upon completion, the delaying force ahead of them relieved and pulled back as fast as they could be. This first iteration of the automated wall kept the bastards at bay almost without super support. But that changed quickly.”

The slide flipped to not a photo, but a waveform display. Seth didn’t understand what this was about until the sound started to play. *hesshhh hesshhh hesshhh* It sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place it. But upon hearing it he felt the Garkah stir. Worry? Guilt? About what? Then he remembered, it sounded like their initial meeting, like the static in his head from trying to understand them. But why would it be here? “For those in the know, you don’t need to be told. But for the uneducated, this was the source of the Signal Massacre.” Seth’s confusion melted as his heart sank with every word. “At 3:32 PM Day 35, as a major delaying force of air units and supers went out to engage a massing swarm, this signal was picked up by their radios. We don’t know what the hell it was, or where it came from. All we know is that suddenly every electrical system around that swarm was fried to a crisp. The only worthwhile explanation we have is that the swarm was so damn dense that it started generating its own magnetic pulse. That delaying force was dropped out of the sky right in front of the swarm they were going to suppress. The lucky ones died as they crashed. But the swarm didn’t stop there, it pushed into the wall, killed the power to the auto defenses, and splayed out toward unfinished sections. The ones full of workers. We almost lost the entire damn line that day. The only reason we held out was a counter push organized by Burning Eagle himself. He burned himself to ash to give the League time to reorganize and re-man the wall. It was awe inspiring watching him fly down the line, a broiling firestorm in his wake and a true blazing eagle haloing him. And in all honesty, his sacrifice is the only one I will ever respect.”

Seth was barely listening. He remembered back to the helicopters he passed, remembered what Speaker told him. Now he understood his guilt. The countermeasures they set up. It had pushed the Laceroids away from him, but bunched them together. It had made things much worse… and he had demanded they keep them on.

“As the line began to reform and computerized and electrically driven systems became inoperable, the wall had to be rethought out.” The slide flipped to diagrams of the now manual wall defenses. ”Supers used in construction were reassigned to the now dead auto factories behind the wall. A lot of the unpowered construction workers stayed as well, in fact a massive call for volunteers was answered rather excessively. Soldiers and equipment were brought up, the previous automated defenses were now fully manned and physically operated. Old combustion engines would have presented too much of a liability, so clockwork and muscle took the stage. The vast expanses of factories and facilities behind the line kept the masses of soldiers supplied and rested. And every block of the wall was augmented with supers.”

Another slide, photos from the wall, of the soldiers, and Rampart. “The delay and fry system was put forth, fire being an effective counter to their healing ability. Defensive oriented supers were put on special platforms to draw the swarms in, while flying and fire based supers supported as needed. Artillery support was put in behind the lines so each unit had some amount of firepower ready if the fire supers were occupied. Incendiary and white phosphorus shells burn just as effectively as a super if used en masse.” A new slide, a photo from the safe side of the wall. The stairs going up full of waiting soldiers. “Each soldier was outfitted with a drum fed automatic shotgun with incendiary ammo, slash and stab resistant armor, and enough reinforcements behind them to cover and replace them if they were ever overwhelmed. Despite everything though, casualties were a fact of life.”

Slide change, a photo of the turrets. “The once automated turrets were shifted to clockwork power and operated by manually. The skeletal frame constructed on site, fitted with clockwork run 30 millimeter chainguns. They were replaceable, long lines backed up behind them, so that when one broke down or was ripped off they could be swapped in less than a minute. Similar lines of freshly printed shells were run beside the rails and pulleys up to their positions. Clockwork batteries were run up beside the soldiers, slotted into the frames and released with every trigger pull, spinning the barrels and feeding the ammo.”

The slide flipped again. This time photos of the mountains Para defended, artificial plinths formed several yards apart from each other. “I already told you all of the areas uncovered by the wall, but I’m adding this here just to cover my bases. The mountains to the north of Frigateville offered a natural deterrent to the Laceroids, there’s no food up there after all. But it needed to be closed off regardless. Thus earth supers constructed those plinths and strengthened rock walls to hamper any advance. This side only had supers, each one had to fight for themselves. Fire support was limited, so powers that could only delay the monsters were predominant.”

The slide flipped back to The Wall, it looked like aftermath pictures of the other side. The black dust built up toward the bottom like a grotesque gradient down the wall’s surface. “This system had flaws, but it held despite the casualties. Which only leaves the final climax of this whole story, the Longest Day. 6:04 PM, Day 65 of the crisis. A massive swarm was spotted by reconnaissance flyers and what limited satellite imaging we still had. It was headed straight for Block 037, which was expected, but the scale and density was beyond anything they had faced before. If you haven’t been living under a rock these past few years you should know this part well. Rampart gave a rousing speech as he held back the first wave, the swarm was clawing its way over itself unlike anything before. That wave kept coming for 18 straight hours. Several turrets melted down and were thrown over into the swarm. A whole divisions worth of troops were rotated through the night, and were back on the wall by sun up, still fighting by almost noon. The block’s artillery unit had to be reorganized to cover the area, the original one running out of shells. It wasn’t called the Longest Day for nothing. Whatever the hell was driving these things on finally whimpered out by noon, the swarm dispersing or falling back into cover like all the rest. That is when you get the only real bright spot of this whole crisis.”

The slide flipped, but it was a drawing. One of the soldiers on the wall drew… drew Seth walking out into the ruins of Berta. He… ‘I was… the cause of this…’ “The Sole Survivor of Brighton. Expeditions after the fact corroborate that he really was all that was left. But how, why he survived when everyone else didn’t are all still a mystery. Another one for the pile I guess. A few of the more conspiratorial theories say he was what was driving the swarm, but they are wholeheartedly disregarded.” ‘Oh thank fuck!’ Seth found what little relief he could in the realization that he had shared the blame for much of the crisis’ darkest hours with the Garkah. “Though I wouldn’t exactly blame them. This kid had walked for days… weeks, through devastation and carnage and survived. When Aegis pulled him out he was just as shell-shocked as the soldiers cheering his rescue. If the Laceroids were running from him after all, then I sure as shit hope he’s still out there somewhere.” ‘…wait…’ “The sad thing is that we don’t know what happened to him.” ‘…really?’ “The last record we have says he was put into the overstressed foster system and lost among the orphans. A victim of bureaucracy. Though given his condition it would be a small wonder if he even understood his own fame, or worse. His own power” ‘You… don’t understand the half of it.’ Seth was thoroughly out of the slump he was in, still guilty, but a little better with official coverage and… Para’s admiration. ‘hmm…’ His guilt weighed everything down though. “After this day the crisis chugged along. The vast majority of the swarms had been chewed through all at once, so they died down as a result. At the initial peak there was one a day, soon that became maybe one every week. Attrition taking its toll. The wall stayed manned for several months to keep pressure, but expeditions were started to root out any stragglers and get thorough intel on just what the hell had happened. The crisis was finally called off on Day 305, the last distraction flight garnering nothing but relief.”

Para hit the lights, turning off the projector for good. “Now then, I know full well which of you were deeply affected by this. But I’m not the only one who should know, so I’m giving you this chance. Raise your hand if you were affected personally by the crisis. I know you’re all old enough to have understood it, so don’t hold it back.” Slowly most of the trainees raised their hands, Seth included. Para had probably been listening to heartbeats or something, Seth could see that being in his wheelhouse. The only ones who didn’t raise their hands were Ohm and Zeleny. Ohm obviously comes from money so that made a little sense. Zeleny was Czech if Seth had read into her nickname correctly, so she was probably removed from the fighting in some way. “Now then, who here was ‘directly’ affected by the crisis? Family served, and whatnot.” A few hands lowered. Razor, Cleo, Marco, and Alex. “Now… who lost someone to this?” Kabar, Jacob, and Tabby lowered their hands.

Para moved up to each of the trainees who still had their hands up, starting with David. “I don’t like giving out undo praise, but remember the water supers I said joined me in the mountains?” Para was unlike himself, softer at least. David lowered his hand and tears started to well up in his eyes. “Your dad and uncle fought as best they could. I… was proud to have them flanking me.” Para looked pained, more grimaced, saying that. But David didn’t seem to care, he shot up and tried to hug Para in perceived mutual sadness. Para stretched out his hand to stop him. “Stop it!” David calmed down, but still smiled as he wiped away the really excessive tears. “Just tell everyone your motivation already.” “I… I want to be a great hero like my dad, like uncle Crash.” He lowered his head. “I want to make their sacrifice matter.” Para nodded. “Good. That’s good enough.”

He quickly moved on to Kaz, but slowed in understanding. “Your mother, right?” Kaz kept his calm, but Seth could see his disposition drop quickly. “She held the line during Burning Eagle’s last flight. Made sure that none of them made it passed her with all their limbs. …I need to keep her memory alive." A slight smile grew on his face despite. "Also... my dad would be a wreck if he didn’t have me balancing him out.” Kaz looked back up with that sincere smile, but Para was looking a little smug. “And there it is.” He shifted around him. “I never trusted a smile like that, it just hides the pain.” Next came Maya. “My oldest brother was part of the crews during the massacre. He was the only one of my family that I looked up to. He wanted to be a hero as well. I need to be a hero, not just for myself, but for him too!” Para nodded again. “Noble, and thank you for finally being honest.”

Lastly, Para approached Seth, seemingly fully aware and yet obviously unaware as to why he was affected. “This wasn’t specifically directed at you, there weren’t any doubts after you passed out just looking at the wall, but there was plenty here that affected you. So spell it out for everyone else, even if it hurts.” ‘No mercy huh?’ Seth drooped his head slightly, the itch to tell him the whole truth burned but it had to be kept secret. “I lost my parents in Brighton.” Not… exactly a lie. The surprised stares from the trainees said enough but they melted away into their real feelings on this. A few contemplative, probably thinking he was trying to equate to the sole survivor and steal more clout. Others at least were respectfully sorry. Para was unmoved. “And…” “I was on one of the trucks that made it away. I saw enough carnage to never wish it upon anyone ever again. But…” Seth looked up at Para, the lie washed away by true determination. “I need to pay back the debts I’ve accrued! Too many people died to save me! Too many people suffered because of me. I need to pay them back. And being a hero is the only way I feel like I’ll actually be able to do that.” Para stayed unmoved, but didn’t press further. He turned away and readdressed the class. “I’d say that’s enough for today, just remember what I told you. Understand your own motives, and those of your allies. You’re dismissed.” The trainees filed out and back to their rooms, left with nothing but their own thoughts.

Seth flopped down on his bed, guilt still weighing down his heart and draining everything away. He grabbed his box from the nightstand and opened it. The red scarf inside was still vibrant, unblemished. He could still feel the warmth of it over his neck, the hold it gave. He closed the box up and laid back with it tight to his chest, just wanting to sleep away this freshly aired guilt. Speaker saw the opportunity to help ease a bit of it. “Do not blame yourself for this, we are just as at fault… though I guess that could be said for a lot of what has befallen this world.” Speaker was doing his best, there was only so much he could do. ‘It’s… it’s fine.’ Not that there was much that needed to be done. Seth could take this new guilt. He already had so much to deal with already, what’s another facet of a horrendous disaster to lay out on top of it. He still had his resolve. He knew what he had to do to pay it all off. All he had to do was get through this course and become a hero. Then it will be nothing but reparation for all this piled up guilt. Seth shut his eyes, ready for whatever came next.