Their feet clambered against the concrete floor as they got into Training Bay Alpha, where they had undergone the race of peril from yesterday. But instead of the chaotic zone from the night before, the environmental setting had been changed.
Where piles of rubble sat, fake but realistic mock buildings had been constructed all over the stadium-wide field. Mateo wondered how the room details were quickly changed like that and concluded someone must have a quirk dedicated to that, even though he couldn't comprehend how it worked.
Reeves walked in front of them while the six guys and six girls got into an ordered line at attention, waiting for her command.
"Good afternoon, Cadets." She spoke, eyeing them so they wouldn't slouch. "I hope you enjoyed your lunch and are now rejuvenated to continue the rest of the training session, right?"
The second training session started at 1600, all the way to 2300, which meant 7 hours of hellish work. Mateo's body felt weak just from the thought.
"The rice could use a little bit of salt," Ben joked, though no one dared to laugh.
Reeves nodded without acknowledging Ben and continued. "Yesterday we did combat and speed training, which are essential in the battlefield. Not only do you need to know how to fight against multiple enemies, but you also need to know how to do that while running away."
"Running away?" Alex suddenly spoke up, scoffing. "Why the hell would we do that? We'll crush any villains we face. No need to practice for something that'll never happen."
By 'we' you mean 'you', Mateo thought. He understood Alex's sentiment, but he could see and totally agree with where Reeves was coming from.
"Defeating the villain is always the primary objective," Reeves corrected, "but in the case where that is not possible, it's imperative to flee—not with your tails between your legs, but with defense and making sure you and your teammates survive, mostly unscathed."
Alex opened her mouth to say something brash again, but she was shut up by Reeves. "Trust me Alex, there are fights you simply cannot win."
With a disgruntled look on Alex's face, Reeves continued. "As I was saying, we practiced combat and speed yesterday. Today we will be focusing on something arguably more important than that."
She narrowed her eyes, observing all of them objectively. "You all will be learning how to save people. Not just fighting."
She straightened her back and went on. "Fighting villains is one thing. Anyone with a strong power or a sufficiently trained mediocre one can hold their own against a B-level villain, but it is all for waste if you can't save the civilians—the people we are fighting this battle for."
"Oblitus must have asked you in your interviews why you want to become Heroes." Mateo remembered the strange, white-haired man that had read him like a book. So Oblitus was his name? "When I was your age, I was asked the same question, and I gave a simple answer."
"To save people. That is the plain essence of being a hero, and that is what we'll be learning today."
A lot of the students slackened in their posture, including Mateo, glad that they wouldn't have to fight themselves or compete for first place. But how were they going to 'save people' in this training center? The challenge itself was still unclear.
"Now, when you graduate in 5 days' time," Reeves spoke, "you'll be fighting in landscapes where survivors or stragglers may still be. And more importantly, you'll be in teams so one member can protect the others. So, I'll be grouping you guys in teams of four today, and we'll proceed with the mock rescue missions."
Teams? Mateo thought. He looked to the eleven other students, wondering who would be put in his team.
"Anon, Ken, Zeke and Maya. You'll be in Team B1."
They looked at each other weirdly. They sure looked like a strange group—the baby-faced boy with glasses that looked too young to even be in high school, the strongest member of their class and son of a top three hero, an average guy whose quirk was switching places with people, and the only girl in B1, Maya, wearing a tweed jacket over their black and green uniforms. Between Anon's analytic thinking, Zeke's explosive power, and Switch's and Maya's hand-to-hand combat skills, they didn't feel like the best combo. More like smart guy, overpowered guy, and two other people.
"For Team B2, Henrik, Akira, Alex and Mateo."
Mateo visibly stiffened when he heard Alex's name being called along with his own. He glanced at her without being too obvious to observe her reaction. She didn't look too perturbed, except for the permanent hard set to her jaw. If being a team meant actively working together, now and when they got into the warzones, this was going to be a nightmare. They hadn't even tried talking to each other since the assessment fights, and from how the fight itself went, he wanted to keep it that way.
Henrik rolled his shoulders, the motion causing his wiry frame to shift. His expression remained stoic, but Mateo caught the way his dark eyes flicked between Alex and himself—calculating, wary. Akira, meanwhile, pushed a strand of her silver hair behind her ear, her lips pressed into a thin line that suggested she was already formulating strategies.
"Amara, Seraphine, Marina, and Ben, you're in Team B3. Now step forward, individual groups."
They stepped forward into three groups, and Reeves smiled—a knowing smile.
"Your rescue challenge starts now."
A loud boom shattered through the air like several cannons being shot at once. The model buildings shook as an explosion cracked and destroyed the walls on the higher floors, causing several objects to fall out of them.
It took Mateo a few moments to clearly see what they were because of how far away they were, and he was confused.
Mannequins?
Indeed, several hundred fell from the explosion from multiple buildings, most likely activating some kind of mechanism that let the mannequins fall out once the session started. But what were they going to do with mannequins?
"Your job," Reeves said, explaining the challenge, "is to save those mannequins from being destroyed."
As she said that, one of the mannequins hit a falling boulder, and a spiderweb of cracks appeared on it, revealing that these weren't normal plastic ones, but actually made of glass.
"Points will be added for the number of mannequins successfully rescued," Reeves continued as her platform rose upwards into the fake ceiling like yesterday. "Mannequins with cracks will have lower marks, and destroyed or no mannequins will result in no marks."
And with that she was gone, leaving the fledgling heroes to the challenge.
Alex flexed a proud grin as she brought her hand to a fist, initiating her pull quirk without consulting her other teammates to make a plan. "This will be easy."
Immediately, seven mannequins rushed towards her through the air, their glass bodies gleaming as they accelerated under her quirk's influence. But Alex's gravitational manipulation was powerful, not precise—she pulled more mannequins than she could handle, and the force was too strong. She could only catch one as it cracked severely against her arms, barely holding itself together, while the other six slammed into the ground around her feet like glass meteors.
The explosions of shattering glass rang out like thunderclaps. Shards hissed through the air, stinging exposed skin as glass dust billowed up in choking clouds.
"Easy, huh," Mateo muttered audibly, shielding his face from the glittering debris.
"Damn it, Alex!" Akira snapped, her usually calm demeanor cracking. "You just cost us six rescues in the first ten seconds!"
Henrik stepped back, his thin frame agile as he avoided the worst of the glass shower. "We need a plan, not a demolition crew."
The other mannequins were falling quickly, rushing toward the ground in a deadly cascade that didn't give the teams enough time to formulate a good strategy. Mateo grunted. Alex had already lost them some glass dummies with her cocky actions. He had to resort to his quirk if he wanted to catch them.
Without looking back to his other teammates, he stretched out his arm, forcing a large slime tendril to shoot out of his skin, the green substance gleaming as it extended like a lasso. The tendril wrapped around a falling mannequin, and he pulled it back toward himself.
While he was doing that, he glanced at Alex. Blood was pouring through some lacerations caused by her reckless action, dark red streams contrasting against her vibrant skin. He looked to the mannequin he was reeling in. If he didn't find a way to protect himself, he'd be torn to shreds by the gashes from the sharp glass fragments.
He remembered yesterday, how he had made a slime barrier to protect himself from being dashed against the rubble. He replicated the effect today, removing his uniform shirt from one side of his body, revealing the skin underneath, and created a thick slime cushion for protection. The shirt would only impede the flow of his quirk.
The mannequin collided with the left side of his body, right into the slime cushion. It was heavier than he expected and pushed him back a step, but his plan had worked. The glass mannequin was unharmed, the green slime protecting it from breaks and preventing injuries to both of them.
One mannequin down, Mateo thought, as he looked upwards to the remaining mannequins raining down like a deadly glass meteor shower.
"Mateo, behind you!" Akira's voice cut through the chaos.
He spun around to see three more mannequins plummeting directly toward him. There was no time to extend another tendril—they were too close, falling too fast. The sound of their descent was like whistling death, and Mateo realized with growing horror that he couldn't save them all.