The day for Captain’s training finally came one foggy morning.

Gabriel donned his armor while Alfred told him he should go to the Shield’s personal training hall - on the 242nd floor.

When he stepped into the right hallway, he noticed he was in some sort of antechamber. A sizeable armored door stood before him, and humming filled the room.

“State your name.” Said a robotic voice from the ceiling.

“Gabriel.”

“Hold still for scan.”

Blue lights ran up and down his body, and a moment later, the door clicked open and slid upwards. This training hall had a large oval table set at its far end on a raised platform. It looked large enough to hold twenty people, if not more.

Gabriel was not alone. An Asian man in a lab coat sat at the table, fiddling with a tablet and mumbling to himself. The man had unkempt blue hair that hung over his glasses.

He wondered who this could be. His age indicated he might be too old to have been in a Strike Force. Gabriel decided it would be best to simply introduce himself.

“Hello.”

The man startled and looked up. “Oh, hello! I suppose it is that time. You are Gabriel.” He stated it as a fact. “I’ve wanted to meet you to discuss the nature of your state as a cyborg.”

Gabriel was stunned but quickly understood.

This was Dr. Atomic. His appearance did not suggest he were someone so important, though Gabriel was not surprised that the shaggy-headed man was Dr. Atomic - having seen the very normal-looking Zero.

“Dr. Atomic. It is nice to finally meet you, I have long looked up to you as a colleague.” Gabe finally said.

“Thank you, Gabriel.” He said, nodding his head in respect. “I suppose I should say the same to you after learning that most - if not all - of Professor Holmes’ breakthroughs should be attributed to you.”

“I am honored to hear those words, sir. Will you be teaching the captains?” he asked.

Dr. Atomic nodded. “Why yes, I will. In fact, I notice the rest of the Class is all here. We will speak later, yes?” Without waiting for a response, Dr. Atomic walked towards the door while raising his hand.

The door slid open, and in stepped the remaining captains.

Gabriel was pleased to see that he was already acquainted with two of them. Rey and Mystery saw him and moved closer. Beside them entered a super that Gabriel assumed must be Crocodile.

The man looked very similar to a MechaBlitz warrior, standing well over seven feet tall and covered in scales. The differences in their bodies were that Crocodile had an elongated snout filled with many more teeth than a MecaBlitz. His tail was also much longer, looking to stretch the length of his mottled green and brown body.

“Welcome, captains. It is good you are finally here. My name is Dr. Atomic. Mystery, Crocodile, Rey, and Gabriel, it is nice to meet you all. Does anyone have any idea why you are here?”

Crocodile spoke up in a raspy voice. “We’re here to learn about being captains.”

Dr. Atomic sighed. “Apart from the obvious. I meant why you are here at the Spire. Why is it that we’ve recruited some of the most powerful Supers ever to graduate from the academy? Why did we place them all here, together?”

Crocodile’s snout tilted low. “To form Strike Forces. This is getting on my nerves. Why all the simple questions?”

“Ah, but Crocodile, you don’t seem to get it. The answer is you are all meant for something big, great even. Let’s try another route. Where are we standing now?”

Gabriel answered. “The high Sentinel’s personal training hall.”

Dr. Atomic nodded. “We prefer the term Shield when referring to our leadership. What you say is correct. Now another question; who trains you all?”

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Rey answered this one. “As you have just said, we are trained by members of the Shield. Grizzly trains Alpha, Lady Justice teaches Beta, Omicron Beta mentors Delta, and Zero mentos Gamma.”

“Correct. What do you think this means?”

Mystery chimed in, “I guess I’ll answer. The fact that fully active Supers are mentoring four Strike Forces in the same complex is already a break in standard practice.

Considering those Supers are members of the Shield, I would bet our purpose isn’t to become like regular Strike Forces. Our training is much more coordinated, with specialization training this early on.

We are integrating with other Strike Forces, running simulated missions together. The power levels of each individual here are high above the average. Usually, we would be spread out among different Strike Forces to lead weaker Heroes, to bolster the Sentinel’s flexibility. If one of our groups goes rogue, the global order could shift - yet still, here we are. We are training together and learning to move as a single unit.

This seems like an endgame.”

Dr. Atomic nodded along as she spoke. Once she finished, he smiled and said, “That is accurate — every word. This training is unconventional. We are indeed stressing the cooperation of your Strike Forces from the beginning. You are all extraordinarily powerful; most of you could run missions solo. Why keep you all together?

Well, we are attempting to create Strike Forces with a higher standard than any other we’ve been able to. Even above the Shield.”

Silence gripped the room.

Dr. Atomic paused. “But that is not all you need to know. What I am about to say next, I expect you to keep within the confines of this hall. Do not inform your teammates. Agreed? Very well.

Apart from creating simple Strike Forces, what we - the Shield - aim to do is create a cadre of Heroes powerful enough to take up the mantle of the Shield, should more of us be lost in the war.”

He let the words hang in the air for a few moments. No one moved except Crocodile, who slapped his tail on the ground.

Dr. Atomic waved his hands. “Alright, everyone. Now that you understand the nature of what we are setting out to achieve, let us continue with today’s lesson. Please sit down.”

The assembled class sat in a semi-circle around the Doctor, and he began to teach. “Many times, your split-second decisions will turn the course of a situation or ensure your defeat. Captains throughout the years have been taught to lead and protect their squads, but the single most important part of the power you wield - in my opinion - is the ability to decide when to retreat.”

The class nodded along.

“When confronted by a superior force, the fighting will become far more intense than what you will be comfortable handling, even with training, even with year- no, decades of experience.

It is at that moment when your team will be the most focused on survival. While a good thing, this can also lead to ignoring the last chance to escape and getting overwhelmed.

As captains, it is your foremost duty to ensure this doesn’t happen.”

Dr. Atomic pointed at the simulation control panel. “Today, we will be confronting just such a situation. Before we do, I would like to ask you a few more questions.

What do you all know of the Ruchin?”

Crocodile spoke first. “This is silly. The Ruchin is a loosely allied group of dictatorships. They rule by power, as we used to before the Blitz, but they take it too far, treating the UnClassed like slaves.”

Dr. Atomic said, “Precisely, if this were a geography class. Anyone else care to add to what Crocodile just said? Keep in mind our ultimate goal here in this training hall.”

Gabriel tried to fill in any gaps. “The Ruchin states control their birth rates, ensuring powerful Supers procreate with others of similar power. This practice - and the tradition of UnClassed servitude - has ended up creating a severe imbalance in power levels.

There are fewer Classed Supers living under the Ruchin; however, they are more potent than those of the Human Republic. Many experts think the Ruchin are augmenting their mutations genetically or through the use of drugs.

Their strongest Supers are each powerful enough to take on multiple members of the Shield and survive. The Ruchin has also used warbots to fight the MechaBlitz. Their Supers haven’t taken such a big hit from the war.”

Ray whistled. “I didn’t know all of that. The warbots, yeah, but are they really that much stronger than us?”

Mystery nodded. “On average.” She looked at Dr. Atomic. “But what does that have to do with our training today?”

“Everything. It is good to discuss the capabilities of the Ruchin before this session. Today, you will be confronted by an overwhelming force - to teach you when to retreat as well as the fact that we Sentinels are not invincible.”

Satisfied no one had anything else to ask, Dr. Atomic went on. “The task for this mission is straightforward. Enter the facility unseen, then place explosive charges along its support beams. Ensure the entire building collapses.

Now I tell you the catch.

Once inside, you will be compromised; you will face armed resistance while placing the charges. Shortly before you place the final charge you will be engaged by the superior force I discussed.

Once this happens, the mission changes to escape at all costs. Am I understood?”

The four Supers stood and nodded - ready. “Great. The team roles for this mission are as follows: Gabriel is on Offense, Crocodile Defense, Rey is Jack and Mystery is Support. Rey, you are the acting captain, Mystery you will spawn in holding the bag of explosives, Gabriel will have the plans of the building.”

On the scanners, Dr. Atomic said, “Good Luck.”

COMMENCE SIMULATION