Monday, The Dormitories, Paladin's Academy.

After talking with Streetwise, Quinn puts his phone down, closes his eyes, and rubs his temples. He walks to the bathroom and washes his face. He stares at himself, noticing his eyebags, and he stretches his eyelids.

"Focus on the now, Dreadnought. One step at a time."

He changes into his superhero suit and goes down to the common room. While walking down the stairs, Dreadnought reads the schedule for the day. Lucky for him, he only has two classes:

Basic Combat Training

Team building

"Sounds easy enough." Dreadnought remarks.

He looks through the announcements, only to find the room to be labeled 'Battlefront.' Additionally, it was announced to show up 'in your hero attire.'

He arrives to find a trio of students lounging by the common room.

Are these guys my classmates? Dreadnought assumes. While they look friendly, it is best to test the waters. Remember what Streetwise said, "Just smile and wave. Works every time."

Dreadnought smiles as he does a small wave. "Does anyone know where Battlefront is?"

"I'd say in a galaxy far, far away." A girl says while giggling.

"I did not think Paladins had a space program."

"She's just messing with you," another girl replies, " 'Battlefront' refers to the open gymnasium."

"Oh, I see. I believe we haven't met. My name's Dreadnought, and I can turn into a demon."

"Hi Dreadnought! I'm Wildlife. I can control plants. The girl on your left is Smokescreen."

"Hey,"

Wildlife has medium-length brown hair and green eyes. She is wearing a pink hoodie with a flower pattern. On the other hand, Smokescreen has long, light purple hair and lavender eyes. She sports a collared white shirt, a black necktie, gloves, and a black leather jacket.

"The guy wearing metal bits is Magnetic Monopole," Smokescreen points out.

"Greetings,"

"God, you cannot sound anymore nerdy."

"Says the one who made a Star Wars reference," Magnetic Monopole claps back.

"How about I fill your lungs with smoke?" Smokescreens shoves Monopole, causing him to fall. Dreadnought helps him back up.

"Are you alright?"

"All good, she's just like that."

"We should bounce. Dreadnought, wanna come with?" Smokescreen offers.

"I shall, but please, no more physical violence towards one another."

"As long as the nerd keeps his mouth shut, we won't have any problems."

Monopole puts his index finger to his lips, then he points to his jawline. Wildlife laughs as she pushes the three of them outside the dorm.

The four heroes arrive at the open gymnasium, where they find most, if not all their classmates waiting diligently. It's an all too familiar scene for Dreadnought.

"I hope this does not turn into another free-for-all." Dreadnought comments.

"Wait, you were part of that? Holy shit dude that's crazy!" Monopole replies. "I heard some guy just shouted and then everyone started fighting."

"I heard that only three applicants from that batch got in." Wildlife remarks.

"I heard you made the latest ACBHI your bitch." Smokescreen laughs.

"ACBHI?" Dreadnought asks.

"Stands for 'Anyone Can Be a Hero Initiative.' It's an inclusive program for people with no powers who want to be heroes." Monopole clarifies.

"So the guy I fought had no powers? He is quite powerful even without them."

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"No need to glaze the man." Smokescreen scoffs, "Even if he's the strongest ant in the colony, he's still just an ant."

"Do you really view people without powers like that?"

"It's a dog-eat-dog world, Dreadnought. It's best you learn that early."

Suddenly, from the sky, a familiar-looking woman lands right in front of all the students. She has long blonde hair and blue eyes. She's wearing a red jacket, black pants, and blue running shoes.

"Yo! Sorry I was late. I was waiting for the team building prof, but he's currently missing. So, I'll be picking up his slack."

The students gather around, as the teacher introduces herself,

"The name's Sparkplug, and I'll be your basic combat teacher for the semester! And first things first, we should do introductions-"

A cold air goes through the entire class. Some have dreaded hearing those words, introductions.

"-With a twist! No need to say anything. Just show me what you can do."

A wave of understanding fills the area. Multiple sighs of relief can be heard. Out of the fifteen students present, only one might have trouble showing what they can do. The majority have no problem, as Dreadnought's eyes widen, and his jaw drops to the floor as he watches:

A person multiply himself three times.

A student who throws a rock with pinpoint accuracy.

A girl describe everything behind a wall as if she can see through it.

A student who can build anything using her own nanomachines.

A boy opening multiple portals with ease.

A girl with prodigal mastery over fire.

And lots more as each and every student displays why they were able to join Paladin's Academy. Finally, it's Dreadnought's turn, as he stands in the middle of the crowd. The students look on as he pulls out his gun. They continue to stare, some a bit more worried than others, but Dreadnought gives them all a kind smile, trying to reassure them that it's alright. He gulps as he points the gun's barrel at his temple. With a deep breath, he pulls the trigger.

*click*

An immense pressure of wind pushes all the students back. Even Sparkplug struggles as Dreadnought begins to hover above them, his black wings fluttering in the air. Most of the students keep their eyes on him, all except one, as he floats back down, making the wings, and his horns, dissipate.

Sparkplug gives a warm round of applause, while the other students follow suit. She pats Dreadnought on the back, as she asks calls for the last student who will be introducing themselves.

A man steps forward, and it is clear to everyone that he won't surpass the earlier showcase. In fact, they all share the same thought across the whole class.

It's him.

White Mask steps forward and doesn't even do anything. He just stares at each and every one of them. It's clear through just his face that he views them all as beneath him. He then changes his gaze to Dreadnought and cracks a small smile. Dreadnought tenses up as he moves his coat to reveal his holster and the faux pistol. The two maintain eye contact, as both of the boys prepare for battle.

Sparkplug catches wind of this and quickly thanks White Mask for his demonstration. She then starts to explain today's activity,

"You see, I was supposed to have a joint exercise with team building, but your teacher has still not-"

Suddenly, a colossal shockwave emerges right behind Sparkplug. The air pressure is even greater than that of Dreadnought's. It sends several students flying, as Sparkplug begins to laugh.

"Sorry I'm late, you won't believe the morning traffic!"

As the dust settles, and the smoke clears, a man with a strong silhouette steps forward. His black, white, and yellow suit glimmering in the sunlight. His silver eyes shine right through his lenses. All the students can do is stare, as Dreadnought smiles. The class is united in thought once again,

It's Streetwise!

"Good morning Paladins, The name's Streetwise, and I'll be your team-building instructor for the semester!"

Wait, he's a teacher here? Dreadnought thought to himself.

"For your first day, I thought it would be best to first assess where you all stand, both combat, and teamwork-wise. So, in the spirit of teamwork, I asked Sparkplug here to collaborate, and we both agreed on one particular game."

Sparkplug hops to Streetwise's side, "That's right! Now that you all know what each other can do, why not test it in a friendly spar? The name of the game is Save the Citizen!"

"To quickly explain the rules, each team receives one citizen to protect. The protectors aka, the heroes, must safeguard the citizen against the capturerers, or in this case, villains."

"Ever played Capture the Flag?" Sparkplug asks. The students nod in unison, "It's basically like that, except instead of a flag, it's a person."

"Don't worry, it's not a real person, it's just a dummy, see?" Streetwise picks up what appears to be a scarecrow as he places it down.

"Save me. Save me!" The dummy shouts.

"Also, you are allowed to capture enemy heroes, simply place these handcuffs on them and put them in prison! Each hero gets one handcuff, and one universal key to unlock teammates' cuffs if they are caught."

"What's the win condition? Have both dummies in your home base, not just one, but both." Sparkplug clarifies. "Even if you've captured the whole enemy team, if both citizens aren't in your care, you don't win."

"Since you guys are..." Streetwise starts pointing with his finger. "Fifteen in the class, the teams will be eight versus seven. Now how will we pick the teams Sparkplug?"

"Good question Streetwise. The teams are already pre-made, courtesy of the algorithm!"

"Meaning the teams have been balanced according to your current battle power. Tell me Sparkplug, who's in team Red?"

"Um, hold on." Sparkplug looks around and finds the small folder she dropped when Streetwise arrived. "Team Red consists of Dreadnought, Matter, Glimpse, Techno-Knight, Sureshot, Meraxes, Double Trouble, and White Mask."

"And who's on Team Blue?"

"Uhhhh let me see," Sparkplug flips through her documents. "Team Blue consists of Gateway, Wildlife, Fortune, Abaddon, Smokescreen, Snooze, and Magnetic Monopole."

"With teams established. Here are some general rules. Rule one: while physical combat is allowed, it's only to restrain, not to knock out. And no maiming, remember, we're still heroes after all. Rule two: use of powers is allowed. However, the destruction of property must be kept to a MINIMUM. Our insurance policy doesn't allow damages to cost more than a million dollars, so any team exceeding that will be disqualified."

"And third, and most important rule of all," Streetwise smiles. "Have fun!"

"Each team has thirty minutes of preparation. Streetwise and I will serve as referees during this trial. We both will carry yellow cards, warnings, and red cards, expulsion."

"Expulsion from the game!" Streetwise laughs.

"With all of that said, students, may the best team win!"