The second tryout was hosted at a different location owned by Network of Heroes. Bayani arrived to see the warehouse filled with a little over half the candidates that showed up for the first tryout. The atmosphere was calm this time, and it was apparent that this was more serious than most thought. Most candidates were speaking about the contents of the first tryout and how dangerous it was. The rest were off doing their own thing. Liezel had sat alone on one of the benches, writing in her journal; Bayani was about to walk over to her when the doors opened from behind him. A person wearing the Network of Heroes basic work uniform walked in and quietly went to the center of the room.

"Good morning, ladies, gentlemen, and those who identify as something else," he said, looking at his clipboard and clearing his throat before speaking again. "I will be your proctor for the second tryout. This one will be simple, do not worry."

Whispers had filled the room with evident skepticism. The proctor looked around and sighed slightly. He flipped through papers on his clipboard before finally tapping his pen on the board three times.

"Get into teams of three, no one you already know. Once you all manage to do that, we'll continue."

Teams started to form instantly after he said that. Bayani looked fearful at the thought of teamwork but mustered up some courage and walked up to someone. Before he could manage to say anything, the proctor spoke again.

"Oh, by the way, you'll be stuck with these people for about two weeks. Choose wisely."

Even more frightened, he sputtered some words, "Would you like to team up with me?"

"What's your power?" they questioned.

"Well, I sort of don't have one," Bayani said with a nervous laugh.

"What? How are you even here? No thanks." without another word from Bayani, they walked away.

𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵. 𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? In the middle of his thoughts, a young man walked up to him with a bright smile. He was taller than Bayani by a couple of inches and had bright blonde hair flowing down his shoulders. He wore a uniform owned by a prestigious private school.

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"Hey there, I'm Datu." he enthused, "Do you want to team up? I already have one other."

Bayani didn't want to miss this chance, so he said almost too quickly, "Yes, please!"

"Fantastic! Follow me."

Bayani followed and was filled with a sense of relief. He was brought to a girl around his age with dull pink hair in a ponytail. She wore a plain hoodie and sweatpants with a pair of slippers. Bayani looked at this, a bit tense, not knowing if these two would be able to live up to the task. He thought about it a bit more and figured they'd still be more help than him.

"Nice to meet you," Bayani turned his head and looked slightly away from the both of them, "I'm Bayani."

"Lucia"

The three stood in silence for a second before Datu spoke up. "Well! Now that we're all acquainted, I hope we work well together for the coming weeks."

Bayani nodded in agreement as Lucia didn't say anything. Datu made small talk with both of them and kept them busy while waiting for everyone else. The room was filled with talking for thirty minutes as everyone ran around attempting to find a group. The proctor stood in the dead center of the room and stared at a watch for the entirety of the talking. At the end of the thirty minutes, he looked up from his wristwatch and clapped once. Everyone turned to look at him and quieted down.

"You won't always have the courtesy of choosing who you work with. Let's hope you made the best of it this time. You will compete for the following weeks as a team to see who works best in actual field practice. This means each team will pair up with one professional hero and go on actual missions with them. You aren't expected to be a professional hero yet. This tryout is about teamwork and the ability to follow directions. You will get your hero pairings tomorrow. Good luck, potential heroes."

The room was dead silent before an uproar of questions. The proctor calmly answered each question to the best of his ability and left. There were mixed emotions among the hero candidates; some were ecstatic, others terrified. Bayani was terrified and had no words. Datu was still smiling, and Lucia didn't seem to care. They exchanged phone numbers and left to do their own thing until tomorrow. Bayani rushed towards Bodybuilder's gym to express the details about the second trial. But Bodybuilder made him do a whole workout routine before he was allowed to speak.

After two hours, he was finally allowed to talk.

"Well, kid, that sounds pretty scary; you up for it?"

"Probably not; I don't even have a superpower!"

"Who cares"

"Most people?

"Well, sucks for them; just save people; that's all you need to be a superhero."

For the first time, Bodybuilder gave advice that resonated with Bayani. He thanked Bodybuilder and ran home to shower, eat, and get a good night's rest. Then it was time for everyone to receive hero pairings.