Hayze and Fatal are on a mountain surrounded by a forest. Fatal throws a large boulder towards Hayze.
Fatal: (Let’s see how far he’s come!)
Hayze puts his hands together and creates a large fireball between them; as the boulder approaches, he throws the ball and breaks the boulder apart.
Fatal: *smiles* Good, when we started this training, you barely put a dent in that boulder, but hey, look what weeks of continuous hard work can do.
Hayze is breathing heavily as he sits down on the ground. His eyes revert to normal.
Fatal: (That was about 20 minutes again. Six weeks ago, his transformation would last about 10 minutes. It’s an upgrade, but it’s concerning that he still doesn’t have a handle on controlling his energy consumption. He’s borderline useless with a timer that short. Couple that with a 30-minute cool down for him to power up again, and he still has some significant hurdles to overcome. I won’t be entirely pessimistic though, he’s come farther than I ever would have thought. He’s got a strong spirit.)
Fatal walks over to Hayze.
Fatal: With the entrance exam tomorrow, this will be my last time training you. You’ve come far, but now you have to take your destiny into your own hands.
Hayze: Well, thank you for all your help.
Fatal: Don’t mention it. I wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for you. So, it’s the least I could do.
Hayze: Do you think I’m ready?
Fatal: I don’t know, that’s up to you. The entrance exam isn’t built so that the strongest will pass. There are more elements to it than that. U.A. wants the best students it can get, not just the strongest. That being said, they’re not going to take any weaklings, and there was only so much I could do. You’re going to need to be smart during the exam. You’re not ready for sustained combat.
Hayze: I’ve tried my best to keep my quirk active for as long as possible, but I get exhausted so quickly, it’s been tough to keep a handle on.
Fatal: With due time, remember to be good at something you have been bad at first.
Hayze: Yeah… I’m aware. But I only get one shot at this exam, if I fail, I’ll have to give up on my dream, and this training will have been for nothing.
Fatal stares at Hayze.
Fatal: You’ve been working hard; you’re as prepared as you possibly can be. Don’t get in your own head and start thinking about what happens if you fail; instead, keep focused on how you’re going to pass. Yes, you only get one shot, but if you let that weigh you down, you’ll never succeed.
Hayze: R- right.
Fatal: Anyway, I’ve gotta meet with my sister back at U.A. I’ll see you around, kid.
Hayze: Alright, cya.
Fatal starts to walk away, but she stops for a moment.
Fatal: Good Luck.
Fatal walks away.
Hayze: (She’s got a hard outer shell, but she seems like a nice person.)
Hayze lays down on the ground.
Hayze: (Man, who would have thought I’d be here, one day away from the entrance exam that could put me into U.A. and one step closer to being a pro hero. I don’t take any of this for granted, and I’ve worked so hard, but from the sounds of it, I’m gonna need to work a lot harder tomorrow. When I got the letter saying I passed the H.A.E., it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders, like I finally could spread my wings and start flying towards the destination I couldn’t reach before. I refuse to go home empty-handed tomorrow; I will pass no matter what!)
Fatal is walking down the halls of U.A.
Fatal: (Well, sis, I guess you were right, and now I need to apologize for not talking to you for the past couple of weeks.)
A flashback starts.
Fatal and Dr. Moore are inside Moore’s lab.
Fatal: Alright, Kelsey, why’d you ask for me on such short notice?
Moore: Well… I kind of… uh... um…
Fatal: You used the serum again.
Moore: I used the serum again.
Fatal: *deep breath* What the fuck!
Moore: It was a spur of the moment, he wanted to be a hero, and he hit all of the criteria I’ve been looking for, a quirk that lowers the risk of injury, a-
Fatal: Wait? He already had a quirk? Why the hell does he deserve another one?
Moore: Y- you don’t understand the situation.
Fatal: He got a quirk. That’s the situation! Let me guess, it wasn’t good enough for him? Well, tough shit, that’s the hand he got dealt. He shouldn’t get another one!
Moore: Oh, YOU want to talk about bad hands? You were quirkless!
Fatal: That’s different!
Moore: How? You wanted to be a hero, but your physical limitations made that impossible. It’s the same exact thing!
Fatal: So, now he has two quirks; he’s a privileged idiot now, thanks to you! Let me guess, you called me here so I can train him like you wanted me to train your last experiment? You can’t just keep trying to throw these projects on me! Especially one who doesn’t deserve the power he was given!
Moore: Shut the hell up, Rachel! You’re the one being an idiot! You’re acting like you weren’t in the exact same situation as him, and the experiment gave you a chance!
Fatal: Yeah! And I deserved that chance!
Moore: Don’t act like you were always just the model of goodness! I was 14 when you were born, you were 4 when I went off to college, I barely saw you, but when mom and dad called me to tell me that you were quirkless, I was heartbroken. You’re my little sister, and it was hard enough being away when you were so young. So I dedicated my work to finding a way to give you a quirk, and in those 6 years you went to elementary school, and you caused trouble every day, you had no understanding of what it meant to have a quirk; you just wanted one to be like everyone else. It wasn’t until after the experiment, hell, maybe even until you were in high school, that you realized what it meant to be a hero. This kid, he’s failed the H.A.E. nine times, but he passed the hero morals part of the test every single time. He has a better understanding of what it means to be a hero than you ever did when I gave you that power that you’re so proud of. I gave someone who deserves a chance a shot because that’s what I want my work to be about.
Fatal is taken aback by Dr. Moore’s words.
Fatal: I.... how do you know that this kid knows what it means to be a hero based on a lousy test?
Moore: I didn’t just pick him for that reason. I wanted to just meet him, but I saw him in action. A robber tried to rob the store he was in, and without hesitation, he put his life on the line to protect that shop, knowing he didn’t stand a chance in the fight. I could tell at that moment that he was special, that he could be great if he wasn't being held back by his own body.
Fatal stares at Dr. Moore.
Fatal: Fine, I’ll meet him.
Moore: Thank you, Rachel.
Fatal: I’ll decide if what you’re saying is true.
The flashback ends as Fatal reaches her sister’s lab.
Fatal: (I was wrong, in the short time I’ve known Hayze, I can see that he will do everything in his power to be a hero, and you just gave him the push he needed.)
Fatal walks into the lab.
Moore: Oh, hey Rachel! How did the training go with Hayze?
Fatal: He’s done well.
Moore: That’s good to hear, especially with the entrance exams tomorrow.
Fatal: Well, he has a long way to go before he’s worth anything in a fight.
Moore: You just don’t want to admit I was right, right?
Fatal: Not out loud, no.
Moore: That’s fine. Have you figured out all the aspects of the quirk, at least?
Fatal: Pretty much. His quirk, as I’ve called it: Elementalist can rotate through several different elements by channeling his power and a specific emotion tied from his being to that element; in the case we’ve seen, his fire quirk is linked to his anger, a weakness of the quirk is that his eyes change color to indicate which power is active, a tell to his opponents. The quirk also takes a lot of energy, and he seemingly has a cool-down period after he powers down, probably his brain telling him not to overdo it before he recovers. Oh, also, when his element quirks are active, his healing quirk seemingly becomes dormant, so the only application of that quirk is his ability to recover after battles quickly. Still, in battle, he’s just like everyone else in terms of his durability.
Moore: Wow, that’s quite the description you’ve gotten together in 6 weeks.
Fatal: Well, he needs to know what he’s working with. It’s a strong quirk if he can get it there, but the outward weaknesses start to pile up at this juncture; his opponent can tell what power he has active, and if he runs out of energy, he’s screwed because he can’t power up again. Then on top of all that, he doesn’t know how to fully control all of the elements. He figured out how to activate a second one, lightning, but we barely scratched the surface of how it works. I did my best, but he needed more time.
Moore: Hey, your quirk was pretty weak when you first got it, but now look at you. I almost can’t remember the days where you would tear your muscles apart trying to use that quirk.
Fatal: Yeah, well, I hope the day comes when he can laugh off his early failures like I can. Unfortunately, he had a strict deadline.
Moore: Do you think he can pass?
Fatal: You and I both know that the test requires mental and physical power alongside strong cooperation. I had 7 years with my quirk to understand it well enough to pass that test. He’s had 6 weeks; we’ll see if he can work around not fully controlling his quirk. Otherwise, it will all be for naught.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The next day, Hayze approaches U.A. alongside many other applicants.
Hayze: (They say only 10% of everyone who takes this test actually gets into U.A. those odds aren’t exactly good, but I need to conquer them. This is my dream, and I won’t let it die today.)
Hayze enters the building with the other applicants and follows the crowd into a large auditorium; hundreds of applicants funnel into this room. Just as everyone gets settled, Mr. Hunt walks onto the stage as a screen lowers behind him.
Hunt: *through a mic and speakers* Welcome all of you to U.A.’s Entrance Examination. We’re happy to have all of you here today, and I’m sure, as you can see, the crop of applicants we have this year is relatively high. To be exact, there are 363 of you here. Based on that number, you probably can understand our need for a preliminary test to lower the number of you who can take the exam. It’s every up-and-coming hero’s dream to attend U.A., so we can only take a look at the ones that earn it. Before I explain the exam, I must first explain the Hero Aptitude Exam that you had to pass to get here.
Hayze: (Hm? An explanation?)
Hunt: The truth is that the exam is intentionally built to be easy to pass under most circumstances. The only way you can fail is if you raise a red flag, whether that pertains to your physical condition, your moral compass, or your quirk; it doesn’t matter. If you can’t pass all three of those tests, then you aren’t U.A. material. In fact, the Hero Morality section, or test 1, only requires a score of 75 out of a possible 100 points to pass, this is because while it’s nice for you to understand the fundamentals of being a hero already, this is a hero course so we’ll be teaching you that anyway. The physical exam is simple to pass as long as you’re in shape. We aren’t going to accept students who are lazy and have no work ethic. The final section, the quirk evaluation, is where we weed out most of the U.A. hopefuls. Not only do you need to have a decent quirk that our proctors deem worthy of being wielded by a future pro hero. You also need to understand that your quirk isn’t a weapon and that you are not defined by your quirk. If you’re nothing without your quirk, then you don’t deserve to have it and, by extension, aren’t U.A. material. You needed a 75 or higher score to pass that test, and the questions were worth 74 points.
Hayze gulps.
Hayze: (So… that means if your quirk was deemed worthless by the proctor… it was impossible for you to pass.)
Hayze clenches his fist.
Hayze: (My answers to those questions never mattered… the proctor gave my quirk a 0 every single time.)
Hunt clears his throat.
Hunt: I’m telling all of you this so that you understand that passing the H.A.E. isn’t an accomplishment. If you’re walking into this exam thinking you’re hot stuff, then I’ll happily prepare your letter notifying you of your failure right now.
The whole crowd gets tense.
Hunt: The training wheels are off now, kids. This test is the real deal, that’s for sure.
The room is dead silent.
Hunt: Alright, now that I’m done intimidating you, I’ll explain how the Entrance Exam works: First of all, you’re going to be working in teams of 3.
Applicants in the crowd start whispering among themselves in confusion.
Hunt: (Look at them; they all thought that this was just gonna be bashing in robots for points, little do they know we put that false story out there every year, let’s see how they cooperate with each other.) You and your group will be tasked with defusing a sensitive situation that a hero might have to. The scenario is the exact same for all groups. You’ll have a proctor to monitor and score you based on your performance. I’ll tell you some rules now: you have 1 hour to complete the exam to the best of your ability; your score is based on how well you limit the scenario’s casualties. If you’re stuck or confused, you’re allowed to ask your proctor two questions. They can decline to answer a question if they deem it inappropriate, or the answer would help too much; after all, it’s your problem to solve. Now, here is who you’ll be up against in this exam.
Another hero walks on stage.
Multi: Hello all! I’m the Multiplication Hero: Multi. My quirk is a significant help for U.A. so that they can have fake villains you can actually fight and potentially kill. My quirk allows me to multiply myself at an almost infinite rate; the catch is that for every clone I make, the original version of me loses a single IQ point, and if you hit me just once, then bam, all the clones disappear.
Mr. Hunt: It’s a quirk with an evident weakness, but you won’t be fighting the real Multi, so his clones can be used as villains for this exam; they can be killed with no harm to Multi at all. You were all given a card when you checked in; it has a letter followed by a number. The letter identifies which testing facility you’ll be testing in, the number is your designated zone you’ll be in, head to your assigned areas, your teammates and proctor will be waiting there for you, dismissed, and good luck.
Everyone starts to get up and leave as Hayze looks down at his card, K5. The setting of the exam is a large fake city with huge buildings and alleyways. Hayze arrives at an alley where his group is set up, and he sees a familiar face.
Ashley: Oh, hey, it’s you!
Hayze: Oh, what do you know. I haven’t seen you since the H.A.E.
Ashley: It looks like you finally passed, huh?
Hayze: Yeah, same for you.
Their last member arrives; his arms from his elbows down are made out of a metallic alloy.
Aaron: Hey, I’m Aaron. Nice to meet you guys.
Ashley: Nice to meet you too; I’m Ashley.
Hayze: And I’m Hayze.
Their proctor walks up to them.
Proctor: Before you get to chit-chat, I’m gonna explain the scenario. Around the corner of this alleyway is a large building, about 20 stories tall; inside, at least one villain has taken at least one hostage. Outside you’ll see cardboard cutouts of police officers. The officers have tried negotiating, and they can’t enter the building for a reason. I can’t tell you. The villain slash villains may be armed, the cops don’t know, they don’t know what floor they’re on, the number of villains, or how many hostages they’ve taken. What they do know is that they’ve stolen a large sum of money and are demanding a getaway vehicle. Your goal is to save as many hostages as possible without killing the villains outright; the fewer casualties, the better you’ll score. You have one hour until the officers capitulate to the villains’ demands.
The proctor reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small mechanical ball; it starts floating around.
Proctor: I won’t follow you around myself, but this camera will keep an eye on you for me so that I can tell what you're planning. If you want to use either of your questions, just look into the camera and ask; it has a speaker on it to communicate with you.
The three applicants nod.
Proctor: Before I let you go, I want to answer a question I get pretty commonly, no, your groups weren’t decided for any particular reason; a hero might have to work with any other hero out of the blue. The groups are entirely random.
He pulls out his stopwatch and clicks it.
Proctor: You have one hour, and your time starts now; use it well.
The proctor walks off.
Hayze: I guess we should start by familiarizing ourselves with each other’s quirks.
Aaron: Right, my quirk is called Armed. It allows me to mold my forearms and hands into various weapons ranging from guns to tools such as a blow torch, as long as I understand its schematic design. The only drawback is that if I fire for too long, my hands will overheat, and I’ll be useless.
Ashley: My quirk is Astral Projection; my spirit can leave my body and travel independently; during that time, my body is left unconscious, I can’t travel very far, but I’m invisible to everyone in this state. I can take over people’s bodies in my astral form, but the control weakens the farther I am from my body.
Hayze: My quirk allows me to rotate between different elemental powers, but I’m only decent with the fire quirk right now. If I power down, it will take about half an hour to power up again, but the bright side is that I can heal faster when I’m not using an element.
Aaron tries to not look visibly displeased.
Aaron: (Great, I got dead weight as a teammate. It looks like I’ll have to take charge if we want any chance of passing this exam.) I guess we should look around and see what’s ahead.
The three look around the corner of the alley and see precisely what the proctor described; a large building surrounded by cardboard cutouts of cops.
Aaron: Alright, so going through the front entrance won’t work. We’ll have to find another way in. Let’s make a plan.
Ashley: Right!
Both Ashley and Aaron start to go back around the corner to strategize when Hayze notices something.
Hayze: Wait, guys, look at the very end.
Aaron: Huh?
Mixed into the crime scene, there is a black van with special gear.
Hayze: That looks like a bomb squad car.
Ashley: So, there’s a bomb inside?
Hayze: Presumably, it could just be there for precautionary measures. But, given what the proctor told us about the scenario. It makes sense why the police wouldn’t want to enter the building. If there’s a bomb in there, they wouldn’t want to risk anything.
Ashley: Dang it, that’s not good.
Aaron: Yeah, more than likely, we’ll have to deal with that before the end of the exam.
Hayze scans the building and sees a window washer scaffold.
Hayze: Look up there.
Ashley: That could be our way in. We just need to get up there.
Aaron: I’m on it.
Aaron’s left hand transforms into a grappling hook launcher; he fires it up at the scaffold.
Aaron: We’re gonna have to climb it, but I’ll tie the rope to you guys so you don’t fall.
The three scale the side of the building until eventually reaching the scaffold.
Aaron: What’s the plan now?
Hayze: Well, I assume you can use a blowtorch, carve out the glass, and we can go in.
Aaron: Yeah, I can-
Ashley: Wait.
Aaron: Huh?
Hayze: What’s up, Ashley?
Ashley: Let me scout ahead first; just keep my body safe.
Ashley uses her quirk and turns into an astral form. She phases into the building; Hayze catches her unconscious body.
Aaron: Huh, that’s useful.
Hayze: Hopefully, she’ll be able to gather some good intel for us.
A few minutes pass, Ashley returns to her body.
Aaron: What did you see?
Ashley: Okay, so they’re on this floor. There are three of them, and there are nine hostages.
Hayze: At least we know that information.
Ashley: Yeah… but the way they’re set up is… weird.
Aaron: What do you mean?
Ashley: Let’s go inside; you should see for yourself.
Hayze: Okay then…
Aaron changes his hand into a blowtorch and burns through the glass; the three enter the building, and Ashley leads them to a room.
Ashley: Look inside.
Aaron: I got it.
Aaron changes his arm into a Corner Shot shotgun. He looks through the scope and into the room.
Aaron: Yeah… that is... definitely interesting. You said there were three of them and nine hostages. Well, then why is there one in this room alone with seven of the hostages?
Ashley: The other two are in rooms alone with a single hostage each. They’re all armed, but I don’t get it. Why are they aligned like that?
Hayze: Here, let me see.
Hayze peers through the scope of Aaron’s gun.
Hayze: I see.
Ashley: What?
Aaron: What is it?
Hayze: Aaron, look at the thing on the guy’s upper arm.
Aaron looks through and gets a better look at the villain, he has a small heartbeat monitor attached to his upper arm, and two lights are glowing on his vest.
Aaron: Oh shit… is that what I think it is?
Ashley: What, what is it?
Hayze: It’s called a Dead Man’s Trigger. It’s a detonator attached to a heartbeat monitor; if the monitor ever hits 0 BPM, it triggers a bomb.
Ashley: But if it hits 0… then that means…
Hayze: Hence the name. It’s the ultimate failsafe. He more than likely has a cyanide tablet false tooth, so if things go wrong… boom.
Ashley: So, can we go after the other two then?
Hayze: Were the other two holding anything or doing something that was pressure sensitive?
Ashley: Well… now that you mention it, they both were holding down buttons in their hands.
Aaron: So that’s what those lights are for.
Ashley: Uh...
Hayze: It’s all one giant trap. Basically, if you take down one of the other two, the one with the trigger will know because one of the lights on his vest will turn off, and he’ll kill all of his hostages. We can also assume that they’re doing check-ins every couple of minutes by walkie-talkie so that if you somehow took down one of them and kept them from taking their finger off their button, he’ll know when they don’t check-in. Furthermore, if you try to take down the one with the trigger, he’ll know the jig is up and just kill himself, and the whole building will blow.
Ashley: Wow, that’s…
Hayze: We’re stuck; no matter who you go after first… somebody's gonna die.