Colette struggled to reach the ground as she stepped off the back of a military truck, gripping her decorated duffle tight with both hands. She had traveled nearly an hour in nervous silence through the woods of upstate Michigan following her (apparently successful) entrance exam. Without cell signal Colette had not yet even called her mom about her results, and now she was being ushered towards a massive brick-and-mortar building nestled in a clearing by a bird-headed soldier. 'This is your stop.' The soldier gestured at a pair of discolored metal doors ahead of them.
Colette's blood raced through her body. Two hours ago she was psyched to take her entrance exam, if nervous, yet now, even as her future sat on the other side of those doors, she paused. She had expected to see her family afterwards, maybe even spend a final night at home before heading to school, but now...
'If you aren't serious about this commitment, I can take you back to the station now. You'll be debriefed about your change of heart and will have several check-ins, but I can take you back.' The soldier broke Colette's anxiety, and she began to notice the distinct clicking of his beak as he spoke. Colette nearly started laughing, perhaps due to her nerves, and shook her head.
'No, I have to do this,' Colette grabbed one of her braids and twisted it timidly between her fingers as she spoke. 'I came this far, I studied so hard, and I passed the exam.' Colette looked up directly at the soldier for the first time as she gave him her answer with a newfound fire in her eyes. 'Thank you for the offer, but I'm staying right here!'
The soldier looked at her, almost with discomfort at her sudden swing of passion, before shrugging and turning back to his truck. Colette waved as the bed of the truck vanished into the treeline before wheeling around to face the doors once more. She had no idea what was behind those doors, but it was going to be her life for the next four years. Trepidation thrown aside, Colette placed a hand on each door and pushed them open, steeling herself for whatever military course lay beyond.
The metal doors swung open under Colette's hands, revealing a vacuous and dimly lit room. On instinct Colette dropped her bag on the floor as she held out both hands. Her fingertips lit up with a soft white light, illuminating the area around her enough to help her eyes adjust to the new environment. The lights on her hands slowly dimmed out and Colette quickly adjusted her glasses. Colette had expected to be in some kind of hidden military bunker, given all the precautions the school had taken getting her here. A high tech training facility with state-of-the-art training bots, security, and soldiers at every post.
An old cafeteria. Colette found herself standing at one entrance to a large school cafeteria with a few dozen or so others her age scattered around the tables. Fluorescent lights buzzed high above the commotion of all these students being introduced to each other at one time. Colette grabbed her duffel bag off the ground and held it close as her eyes darted around the room. Roughly half the kids were sitting at the benches eating and socializing normally, the highest density being towards the middle of the lunchroom. In the dead center of this was one incredibly soft-looking girl, passed out in deep slumber over the table. Colette could barely focus on her own thoughts and had no clue how she could manage to sleep during this. The few students studying seemed irritated at the state of the room.
Colette skirted along the edge of the room, keeping her bag close to her oversized sweater as she took in the sights. One student seemed to be doing incredible visual impressions of surrounding students at a table in the corner. It seemed fun, but Colette really did not want to see her own face, especially on someone else. Having not eaten since her exam, Colette was famished, and looked around to see if anyone had real food. Unfortunately, the cafeteria was not actually open, as far as Colette could tell, but there were a pair of vending machines at one end of the room. Pretzels! Colette thought to herself with glee, bounding awkwardly over to the machines as she fished her coin purse from her bag.
A greasy boy leaned against the wall near to the vending machines, unfocused on anything in particular, but Colette paid him no mind. Placing her bag on the ground, Colette popped a handful of quarters into the machine and entered the code for her pretzels. She heard the greasy boy snap to the side of her, and the vending machine's lights dimmed as the machine shut down. Colette did not notice, however, shrieking as she felt the hooks on her bra pop loose. Her purse hit the ground as coins scattered, Colette clutching her chest with both hands and tears forming in her eyes.
'Oh my god, I am. So. Sorry. I was only trying to stop the vending machine, I promise.' Colette leapt back in fear as the boy from the wall approached her with a frantic look in his eyes. He stopped in his tracks, threw his hands halfway into the air, and knelt down onto the floor. 'I am a thousand times sorry, I'm not very good with my Quirk as you can tell.' As he spoke, the boy collected all the coins that fell from Colette's purse and put them back in. Standing up, he handed her the purse once more. 'You were getting pretzels, right?' He gave a sharp kick to the machine and a bag of pretzels- no, two bags, came loose. He extended both to Colette, who was uncomfortably holding her bra in place as she clutched her purse, still on the verge of tears. 'My name is D."
Voices rang out from somewhere in the cafeteria, 'the D stands for dick!' 'no, it stands for douche!', met with a bit of laughter. Colette looked around the room briefly but was unable to find anyone that seemed to be paying attention to them. She must not have been D's first victim. She glared back at the pretzel-holding boy, but in his eyes showed genuine remorse. She paused before extending one of her hands and snatching the pretzels from his hand. Using the same hand she grabbed her duffel and shuffled awkwardly to the bathroom.
Colette dropped her bag on the restroom floor and threw her pretzels on the sink. She looked at herself in the mirror square in the eyes through her thick-framed glasses and slipped her hands up the back of her thick sweater with a sigh. Colette fished her bra straps from her sides and pulled them tight again, as she mentally brought herself down. You made it this far, she told herself, this is nothing compared to the villains you'll have to face. Colette grabbed one of her braids and began fiddling with it as she calmed herself down.
Colette's thoughts were interrupted by the flush of a toilet. Moments after and one of the stall doors flung open with great force. A large, brutish looking girl came nearly barreling out of the stall with exaggerated stomps. She passed Colette and the sinks on her way to the door, and Colette stared at her, half in fear and half in disgust. Is she really not going to wash her hands? Not even in a cafeteria? As if Colette's mind was read, the large girl wheeled around to look her dead in the eye. 'What do you want, four eyes.' The words came out more like a command than a question, or perhaps a threat, and her eyes burned through Colette's face. Colette felt a lump form in her throat as she quickly looked back at the mirror. 'Whatever. Useless little…' The words faded out as the aggressor vanished behind the bathroom door.
Colette gathered her things and left the restroom, having been shaken by her new classmates twice now. As she went through the door she noticed the commotion in the room had increased, still focused on the center table in the cafeteria. From a safe distance Colette examined the cause of the ruckus. The girl from the restroom stood over one of the benches with her elbow on the table, shouting loudly. 'Who thinks they can conquer the undefeatable Daisy? Step up and get your ass kicked!' A pale and gaunt boy came up to her, his bony arm dwarfed by Daisy's trunk-like bicep. Colette fiddled with her pretzels nervously, opening the bag and grabbing a handful. It took all of her concentration not to out Daisy's lack of washed hands to the boy who had stepped up. The difference in their muscles was more immediate for him to worry about anyways.
Daisy and her challenger locked hands over the table and Colette watched with awe as Daisy's arm glossed over and crystallized up to her shoulder. Her tank top in this brisk Michigan air makes more sense if she wanted to show off such an amazing Quirk, Colette figured, and watched the skeletal boy grab the diamond hand with his own. With her mouth full of pretzels Colette waited to see Daisy crush her opponent. Instead, nothing happened as the two stood, hands locked. At first, Colette thought the match hadn't started yet, but she could see both Daisy and the boy's shoulders flexing intensely.
Students cheered loudly for either contender, and at the same table the sleeping girl from earlier had yet to move, let alone awaken from the noise. Maybe she's dead, thought Colette, and while she could check on her she had no desire to get that close to Daisy's terrifying physique. Instead, she looked around the room for a spot to finish her snack. All the tables were occupied, so Colette made awkward rounds to the less rambunctious groups.
One girl sat alone, entranced in her phone. She wore heavy makeup and messy hair, and her outfit was poorly maintained. She didn't look friendly to Colette, but she also seemed quiet and occupied. As Colette started to put her things down the girl glared up from her phone.
'If your ass touches that you won't be able to sit anywhere for a week.' The delivery was absolutely flat and expressionless, though sparks flew off the girl's free hand, and she immediately returned to her phone. Colette took a few cautious steps back with her hands up, assuming that she wasn't joking about that. Colette could feel her stress manifesting and could feel her cheeks glowing from the repeated embarrassment.
Continuing to scuttle around the room, Colette felt lost, starting to panic that she had made a poor choice choosing to try out for the exam. She expected to make friends, or at the very least partners, but instead she was just met with one hostility after another. As tears welled in her eyes, she saw motion from the corner of her vision. Glancing over, she saw two mutant-Quirks sitting at a table, one of which waving her over with a smile on her face. Colette hustled quickly to the table, dropped her bag on the floor and finally rested down on a seat.
'Hello! We saw you looking flustered, so we thought we would invite you to sit with us!' The girl waving initiated the first friendly conversation Colette had since talking with her mom before the entrance exam. Her mutation gave her fuzzy green skin, big compound eyes, and a huge pair of beautiful wings. 'My name is Virginia! You are the 19th person so far to arrive, so I think we should expect one more and that will be our class!' Despite her inhuman eyes, they still gleamed with incredible joy and excitement, and she looked like she was ready to float off her seat.
'Oh, thank you… it's nice to meet you, I'm-' Colette began to introduce herself but the other student at the table interrupted her.
'Howdy, I'm Rusty! My name, I mean, not just my skin.' He was bright red and shone like he was made of plastic, but more noticeable were the two antennae emerging from his head and the giant crab claw on one of his arms.
RUSTY LONG
QUIRK: LOBSTER
Rusty can do pretty much anything a lobster can. His hard body protects him from sharp hits, his gills allow him to breathe underwater, and his antennae give him awesome sensory abilities. His claw packs some serious power behind it too!
'Rusty! It is rude to interrupt people, she was trying to introduce herself!' Breaking her gleeful expression for exactly one sentence Virginia scolded her compatriot before warming up again and turning back to Colette. 'I am so sorry, you were saying your name was…?'
'I'm Colette,' she began as she grabbed the frame of her glasses with both hands. 'It's so nice to see friendly faces finally. You both have such amazing Quirks!' Colette lifted her fingertips in front of her to show the other two as light manifested at each one.
COLETTE CLARK
QUIRK: LIGHT UP
Colette's Quirk allows her to produce light of varying colors and intensities from her body. This can illuminate parts of her or even be extended into beams like a living flashlight!
'My Quirk isn't super useful, but I'm hoping to learn from Solar how to use light as a weapon. I've always loved her Solar Flare Flash and think it could make me into an okay hero, or at least a sidekick.' Despite downplaying her Quirk, both Virginia and Rusty looked with astonishment.
'That is incredible, Colette!' Virginia's mouth was open with genuine surprise instead of the pleasant smile she had been maintaining. 'Imagine how useful that can be for nighttime rescues!'
'Yeah, and you can give clear signals from wherever without any sounds! That's great for secret spy stuff!' Rusty chimed in with his praise as well. 'Besides, your Quirk is way prettier than mine! I look like some bootleg action figure.'
Colette gazed away from her new friends. 'Thanks, but… my Quirk is far from the most impressive one here.' She looked back over where Daisy was still arm wrestling the skeletal boy, though now she had fully crystallized her body to match her arm. Colette was shocked the two had stalemated in such an apparent one-sided match. That boy's Quirk must be strong, she thought to herself.
'They've been going at it for a while,' Rusty started as he followed Colette's line of sight to the arm wrestling. 'They may have amazing Quirks, but with as bad attitudes and high pride that she has,' he continued as he rested his head on his claw, 'it's gonna be an uphill battle to become a hero.' The three of them examined the other tables; most of the students were huddled around Daisy's arm wrestling match or the student doing imitations, some sat alone, and a few sat a table reading through textbooks, oblivious to everyone else around them.
A thump resonated through the cafeteria with a moment's break before the room was flooded with shouting and applause. Colette whipped her head around to see, unsurprisingly, Daisy having won this lengthy match. Her whole body was a frosty white crystal and she had seemingly braced her foot… on the top of the table? Colette was aghast at the lack of hygiene Daisy displayed so proudly time and time again. As the cheering quieted down another thump was heard again, this time from the table with the girls studying. One intense girl, with incredibly long, black hair, had slammed her textbook with fervor against the table. With everyone's eyes on her, she stood up and pointed directly to Daisy.
'Listen here. You may be here to roughhouse around, show off some flashy moves, and then live the undeserved life of a hero but this is still a school. Some of us,' she gestured at the two irritated students sitting with her, 'are trying to further our education so we can contribute to justice in more ways than simply challenging the villains to a… an… arm wrestling competition!' With each phrase the girl's volume increased, and her hair began to change from the pitch black it had been to a fiery red. Not just her long locks of hair, but her eyebrows, eyelashes, and even her unshaven legs changed colors as her mood intensified.
Across the room Daisy shot her a murderous stare, before her body uncrystallized and she walked up and over the table to the other side. Hopping on the floor she marched on with a humorless expression and clenched fists to the table where her criticizer stood. Daisy lifted one booted foot onto the bench of the table and leaned forward to look her square in the eyes. 'Who the hell-' Daisy pounded the table with one fist, shaking the bench and startling all sitting there, 'do you think you are?' Daisy screamed the end of the sentence, breaking the calm terror she had been holding.
Almost instantly all the passion fled from the girl's hair, leaving it back to its dull color as she lifted the textbook in front of her like a shield. 'I-I am Faith, and y-you will not talk to me like that!'
Daisy scoffed and grabbed Faith by the collar of her uniform and lifted one fist. 'I don't think you get to tell me what to do, four-eyes!'
'ENOUGH.' From the far side of the cafeteria, an impossibly powerful voice bellowed, echoing through the room. Everyone paused and looked up, and Colette's heart fluttered as she recognized that voice, it could only belong to the Daybreak Hero Solar! 'Heroes in training as you are, you must grow thicker skin around your peers. Perhaps that's better left for ArmoRaider to teach you, however.' Solar was a massive woman, easily seven feet tall with a true superhero's build. Her Quirk, Daybreak, was responsible for her signature feature; a ball of burning gas atop her shoulders, a miniature star for her head.
One of the few serious pro heroes in the United States, and easily the most recognizable, Solar commanded the attention of all her students. Even the girl who had slept through everything had rolled on her back with her eyes half open to watch the professional.
'From now on you are to display behavior fitting of heroes in training, not of school children. You're adults, you've got a lot of training to do, and the government has taken a huge gamble in the amount they've invested in these two schools. All twenty students have arrived, and I suggest you get to know them well because you'll be spending the next few years with them if you plan on becoming heroes.' With her arms crossed and a somehow stern expression across her featureless face, Solar took a step and turned her body to reveal a smaller teacher. 'Foghorn, if you would, please escort our maiden class to their dormitories.'
The smaller pro, who emanated a wispy mist around his body, nodded as he looked down the room at all the students. 'Alright, if you really want to beat each other senseless, just know breakfast is at seven and that this door will be locked once we depart. Those of you who would rather sleep in actual beds tonight can follow me.'
Grunting with frustration, Daisy let go of Faith's collar and headed out the cafeteria with her stuff. 'Whatever, just don't get in my way and we won't have a problem.'
Colette began wandering in the direction of the students in a daze, she couldn't believe that she just met Solar in person, or at the very least were in the same room. Foghorn too, professional heroes that Colette had never dreamed of meeting when she was younger were now going to teach her how to be a hero. Her mind reeled and her heart pounded as she thought about these next few years working close with her idols.
Colette's trance was broken as she felt a hand wrap around hers. Instinctively she panicked and pulled away, looking over to see Virginia had rushed to her side. 'I am so sorry, I did not mean to scare you!' Colette let out a sigh of relief as Virginia held out Colette's bag. 'You left in such a state I was worried! You even left your belongings behind.' Colette was eternally grateful that she had found such a charming friend in Virginia, and felt a little ashamed for leaving her behind.
'Thank you so much, Virginia, I'm so sorry about leaving like that, it's just…' Colette turned to look her new friend in the eyes, 'heroes have always been very important to me, and Solar in particular…' Colette looked down at her free hand as her fingers illuminated, 'my Quirk isn't very practical in disasters, or combat. Solar uses a lot of light-based attacks in her fights, and that's the only reason I dreamed of being a hero with this Quirk.'
'Well I do not think you need to worry about your Quirk,' Virginia replied without a smile, instead replaced by an expression of admiration at Colette, 'You have such genuine passion in your words, and the respect you have for these professionals is incredible. You will be a pro hero, Colette, I know it, and you will inspire everyone like you have me.'
Virginia's words echoed around Colette's head for the rest of the night. Of course her mother had told her the same thing before she had tried out but something was different hearing it from Virginia.
You will be a pro hero, Colette, I know it.