The dust and sand settled, everyone that had attacked him was on the ground, unconscious or in pain. The seething of his breath the only real sound other than pained groans. But still Seth knew better than to hold to this, heavier breaths fighting back and smothering this fire with calm. He flexed his practically steaming right, the pain from nearly shattering it on Para's face helping center him. He straightened up, let the abyss go, let it drop back figuratively in on itself. He could feel the Garkah’s worry, but also their relief in him. That he was able to let go when all was said and done. Soon only the softened clank of Mediknight helping those with real injuries was left to hear. A broken wrist or three, cracked ribs, rampant whiplash. Everything was beginning to settle, and the atmosphere easing to a better tempo.

Then the hole in the arena crumbled, and that atmosphere rang taut. Para stepping back out, sweeping dust from his uniform like nothing had happened. Seth and those conscious were stunned, a lot of power went into that punch, but he barely had a scuff on his jaw. Just a sure fire look of pure death across his face.

“I can understand wanting revenge on the ones who attacked you, it’s a rather common justification.”

Para was now right on top of him, staring down with near equal hate.

“But you’d better realize that starting fights you can’t hope to win is going to get you nowhere.”

Seth could only stare up, meeting death glare with death glare, all his progress washed away into grinding seethe. He moved first, squaring himself for what was bound to be round two, but Para didn’t make a move. Instead he turned his nose up in smug fashion.

“Heh, if that sucker punch was the best you got then you’re not even worth the effort. But if your little toy there is what I know it to be, you’d might just give me a good fight. So go get it! And quit wasting my time!”

Seth sneered, practically snarled at him, but quickly turned away, rushing to his suit. It opened like it was expecting him, the release of power he perpetuated started up hardcoded systems. It was made to contain this power after all. Connectors snapped into place, panels slammed closed, shutting out the world with resounding clangs until the helmet closed in around him. He stood his ground, staring through the view screen, soulless glowing eyes given undeniable emotion.

Para moved to opposite him, right into the circle at their sector’s center. Mediknight had cleared it as soon as he’d stepped out of the wall. The two bore holes into each other until he stepped back up to the edge of the ring, raising a hand as impromptu referee to at least have an end to this. The tension turned the air thick, the sore trainees watched anxiously from the wall, the knowledgeable among them smugly or earnestly preparing for the worst. Para leveled a hand. Seth ground a foot back. Mediknight took a step back… and dropped his hand.

Seth tried to move first, but found himself unable to even breathe. A grinding resonance stopping him before he could even make tracks. His ears were drowning, his suit was quaking, his bones were rattling in place. Every fiber of his being was shaking apart. And then the pain started.

“AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

He cried out, but even his thoughts felt like they were muted. He could still see, but it was turning to red on all sides. Distortions in the air, sound waves so intense they were visible, emanated from Para’s outstretched hand. The trainees watching him fall to his knees in seconds, with little surprise. He had to do something, he was losing consciousness, but there wasn’t anything he could do.

‘THERE!’

He couldn’t hope to hear the Garkah, but he could feel their response. The metals in the suit heated slightly, shifting composition internally, changing resonance frequencies. The sound waves deadened slightly, enough for him to move. Enough for him to retaliate. Seth dropped down out of the concentrated sound waves and found his opening. His armored hands hit the sand, his legs came up, and a jet of sand burst up in his still sonically assaulted place.

He launched forward with little restraint, the weight of the suit meant to keep his movements dampened to reasonable levels. But he was already exceeding that drag. Closing the distance in less than a second, he skimmed the ground below the continuous blast. But Para was having none of it. He relinquished his attack and pivoted with equal speed, foot like a sack of bricks kicking him across the helmet.

The weight of his suit denied, he was sent tumbling to the side. He could still claw to a stop but had to dodge quickly to the side as another blast smashed the sand next to him. He rose, sprinted upright as that column of sound followed behind, just barely out of reach as it tore through the arena wall. But he was quickly running out of space, any farther and he’d be subjecting the trainees to the same sonic torment. Coming to a skidding stop, he ducked down below the blasts, feigning a double back. Instead he stomped his foot down and leapt, cut back over the beam, vaulted backwards as it changed direction to follow his expected movement.

Sand crunched under loaded foot on the other side and blasted away as he rocketed toward Para. Again he was quick to react, cutting the blasts in time to meet Seth’s charge, this time planting his feet and punching down on him. But he was growing predictable, Seth stopping short but letting his arms swing free. As Para’s punch whiffed, Seth’s arms closed in from the inertia and clamped around his outstretched arm. His foot drew back, pulling his arms hard and swinging Para off his feet. But he wasn’t so helpless. He grabbed Seth’s arm with his grappled hand, shortening the air gap between the two, sending sonic waves straight through the suit uninhibited.

“RRAAHHH!!!”

Seth recoiled, but held on as he tensed from the pain, the gel layer almost denaturing under the barrage. Still in a spin, he used everything he could muster and slammed Para down sideways, kicking up another cloud of sand. Wrenching free of his grip, he kicked himself out of the cloud with his numbed away arm held tight. He had to rethink his strategy on this. Sonic blasts at range and resonating palms at point blank meant he had to switch things up, hit and run tactics.

‘That should do fine so long as- AAAAAAHHHH!!!’

The cloud parted, blasted away by greater distortion. Para was using both hands at once, doubling the blasts in size and volume. Seth tried to grip his head through the suit, but it was like it was going to rip apart. Cracks in the eyes started forming, he could feel blood running from his ears, and eyes. Yet Para was unrelenting, kicking the volume up with every step, to the horror of the other trainees. Seth collapsed forward, still desperate to cover his ears, practically burying his head into the sand. His bones were fracturing, his blood was nearly boiling, his mind was rattling too much to even think of pain. Everything was going black, emptying to nothing again, except against its own will. Para took another step forward… and that abyss shook.

The hands let go of the helmet, allowing them to fall before clawing the sand instead. Legs pulled in and slowly lifted the whole up. Joints creaking as their servos tore at their housings. Para kept blasting, turning the volume up louder and louder, but Seth appeared unfazed. Slowly the head lifted, the eyes of the suit were cracked, but a bright electrical blue glared Para down. And it was clear it didn’t care about the pain.

With little noticeable motion other than a burst of sand, Seth shifted out of Para’s doubled barrage, appearing at his flank. And taking a menacing, echoing step. A step that drew Para’s ire as it resounded through the arena despite the sand. He shifted fire, swiveled hard toward him, but before his blasts even reached he was gone. Already off to his other side, taking another menacing step. Another deep metal clang resounded. Para reacquired him again, this time splitting his fire, trying to meet him as he shifted away again. But Para was always a step behind.

Plumes of sand were the only thing he saw as Seth circled him, drawing closer and closer to his horrified dismay. He could see him only in flashes readying an attack, arm raising higher and higher, but he couldn’t land a hit. As his metal carapace finally flashed in front of him, Para finally reacted first. He forced his arms around himself, passing a resenance over his entire body, and before his arms out hard. A blast of distortion kicked the arena, shook the open shutters above, and rippled the air into deadly form.

But pushed nothing but more sand. Because that metal form was nowhere near, the show a feint to wear him out. An arm reared back at the line of the ring, the legs spring loaded and ready, and the eyes burning with unmistakable intent. Para’s whiffed last ditch blast left him winded and dazed, only now realizing Seth was nowhere near. He quickly pulled everything he had into another blast, but a sonic boom reverberated the arena opposite him.

The world found itself in a perceptive hold, slowed to a crawl by overcharged senses. Para was building a blast with his entire body, distortion curling the air around him. Seth’s body had kicked off with all the force it knew how to muster, titanic weight turned to an unstoppable missile. The two were set to clash with power enough to end this fight, to shatter the air, to shatter the arena itself. But something appeared in between them before either could actualize that destruction.

The eyes noticed it first, a transparent orange shimmer flashing across like a warning. Seth’s perception caught, overcharged senses overridden by burned in memory, the dark edges seeping away from his vision. His attack broke, desperate feet trying to pull up and skid to a halt. He couldn’t touch it, couldn't break that kind of truth. Para noticed it last and dissipated his attack, turning to meet a scolding backhand to the forehead. But Seth wasn’t going to stop in time, metal feet cutting gorges in the sand and received no meaningful friction.

‘I can’t ruin everything like this, not now!! Not like thi-‘ *CLANGGGggg*

But that consternated missile found himself clotheslined by a round hoplite shield and rebounded backward from an almighty whiplash, landing in a heavy metal heap. All the power that had seeped in and blotted him out fell away. Even the abyss had been whiplashed into submission. Dazed, sore, still healing from the resonance torture, Seth could barely pull himself back up. But could hear Para growling in frustration.

“What the hell Aegis!?!”

He snapped up at this, but was struck by the déjà vu of the scene. Aegis stood over him, daze brightened light and shattered optic glass haloing her on his view screen. She’d hardly changed from when she rescued him, an angle returned to save him. Just maybe a bit more filled out, and ‘Ow’ stronger. She still wore her hair back, but there was obviously a lot more of it, and her eyes were still hinted with orange. Her suit really was basically the same, just recolored. In fact it looked like it was exactly the same, similar wearing and fraying at the seams as the old one. And most assuredly she had bulked up since they last met, not to ludicrous levels, but her strength was obvious to the casual observer.

Seth may have stared a little too long, more stunned by the sudden appearance than her physical appearance. Aegis gave a concerned smile down at him.

“Sorry, guess I should have stopped you sooner?”

Her voice wasn’t as gentle as before, but still held a little childishness. She furled her shield up and stretched out her hand for Seth to take.

“Though seeing as the both of you were- hhrrrggg damn you’re heavy… about to turn all the trainees to fucking jelly! I had to intervene rather poignantly.”

Para scoffed, but Mediknight had ushered the trainees almost completely back from the ring for their own safety. He quickly ate his humble pie as Mediknight glared like a menacing mother at him. He turned back, bitter at the taste.

“I thought you were delayed by a ‘pretty serious save’?”

“Yeah, I lied, I was watching from the booth. I knew full well you’d ignore orders and pull the same shit. Again! So I called it in.”

“You WHAT!!”

“Say hello to your new co-teacher Para, better get used to not being a douche to these trainees 24/7!”

The reassembling trainees and Seth all stood even more shocked, they were getting trained by three members of the Elite. Ohm raised his hand.

“This better not count as my promised special training- GOooh!”

Maya punched him in the ribs and Para sneered.

“Shut the fuck up Clarence! Aegis you can’t be serious, you’re spreading the Elite thin like this.”

Aegis crossed her arms.

“Oh NOW you care about the Elite’s wellbeing. Well, thankfully the A and B squads are being rotated in and out of long range, sooooo I can do what I see fit. And since you BASICALLY picked a fight with one of your trainees ON DAY ONE!! I’m going to be staying here, keeping you from fucking things up more than you already have. Okay??”

She turned away, instead directing her attention at Seth again, who was now thoroughly frozen in awkwardness.

“You’re a pretty good fighter, but in all honesty you really need some work on your self-preservation. Let’s keep to fighting someone who, at the very least, is in your power class.”

Seth was still stunned, but shook as much as he could away so he could take his helmet off to answer her. He twisted the rotary neck joint and popped it off with a short hiss of heated air, revealing his short shock of stark white hair. Helmet head inside an active faraday cage was a mess to be reckoned with on its own. He noticed and franticly ran his hand over his hair as he lowered his helmet to his side.

“I’ll… try to pick my opponents better.”

He smiled slightly, drying blood trails from his nose and eyes making things seem a little more dire then they really were. Aegis smiled slightly in response, but couldn’t hide the serious concern on her face. But what Seth couldn’t see was recollection. He wiped away the blood he could feel, but stopped smiling when she turned to Mediknight, silently motioning for him to check on him. She didn’t remember him, though it had been a while, and he wasn’t exactly as talkative back then as he was now. Guess she just forgot, or blocked out that part of her life.

'It’s understandable, PTSD is pretty rampant among anyone even close to The Wall, and actually being on the other side of it couldn’t have been easy but...'

Seth was zoned out in thought, only adding to the concern eking out of Mediknights slats as he looked him over. He snapped out of it as that visor dominated his vision. He couldn’t see any sign of real emotion, nothing but shadow between the slats, but he could feel he was scanning him. A tinge of worry crept in, a concern he could sense his powers. He turned away before Seth could fail his bluff, giving a thumbs up to Aegis as she gathered up the trainees.

“He’s okay.”

Seth let his breath out and moved to group up with everyone else, only to be stopped by a plate mail hand.

“Don’t let that power of yours consume you. I can understand wanting to hide it, but you’ll need to learn proper self-control before ever attempting something like that again.”

Mediknight dropped his hand and moved off. Seth was stuck in both fear and respect, guess there is no hiding anything from a good enough doctor. But he was still determined, and at least had two of the three trainers on his side. Speaking of which he leered at Para as he rejoined the now coalesced and healed up trainees awaiting everyone’s proper introduction. Aegis keeping command of the class.

“Okay, now that that is all settled. Welcome to the League of Super’s last official recruitment course. At least for now. Apparently we’re overstaffed, but still have plenty of openings for the lot of you. If you can manage to reach them that is. To that end, this course will work to turn each and every one of you into professional heroes fit to protect this world from anything and everything that may threaten it. From a common convenience store thief, to rampaging genetic monstrosities, to the occasional city busting meteor. You’re going to be ready and able to fight each and every one of these things, and worse. And, thanks to my inclusion, you’re more likely to actually pass this course compared to the previous ones. Seeing as Parasonic over here has been making this course into a meat grinder instead of a training camp.”

“Don’t blame me if they can’t keep up, and I still fully expect each and every one of you to fail. Anything otherwise would endanger the League as a whole. The dangers we face as heroes are many, varied, constant, and unforgiving. Even the heroes we have today can’t truly be said to be ready for what may come tomorrow. So I expect you all to fail. That is a preferable outcome over sending off a group of half-assed recruits to die in droves again.”

The collective looks of indignation melted at this. But looks of defiant determination broke the gloom, Seth’s included. Para scoffed in response while Aegis smiled. Mediknight stepped up to break the tension.

“You will each be given a room on the periphery of the arena, the rules and regulations for living here are printed on placards in each room. Read and memorize them. Meals are served in the canteen based on the time of day. Its first come first serve, so don’t be late. Training starts when your trainers say so. Expect the unexpected. If they say you’re training at 3:00 AM, you are training at 3:00 AM. Personal training times are allotted for any free time you may receive and wish to use productively. The time table is logged on your personal terminal in your room and on the public one’s in the periphery. Don’t just show up to train whenever you want, you will be leered at and judged an impatient or unobservant moron. Fighting is expected, but rules are in place for this. Set a time slot and fight it out in the arena. No fighting anywhere else. And NO LETHAL DAMAGE. Fight under the allowed rule sets or don’t fight at all.”

Mediknight stepped back, leaving the floor to Aegis.

“That sounds like everything. So, you two can go now, I have the first actual lesson.”

Para sneered, but walked off with Mediknight.

“Don’t spoil them, you’ll only make their failure worse.”

He slammed the locker room door behind them as Aegis smirked at her new trainees.