Stage 2: Entrance Exam Jitters (Part 2)!
Instead of the tall woman, a short old man with a long blond beard, a bald head, a mechanical arm that resembled a pincer, and two exhaust pipes strapped to the back of his red armor occupied the testing-room Lena was assigned to.
"All right, I don't have all day so the sooner we get started the better!" the old man said eyeing everyone with a monocle made of red-colored lens. "I'm going to pass the written part of the exam to everyone in this room. You have one hour to complete it. Fail to do that, and you'll be sent home. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir!" Everyone in the room responded.
Satisfied, the old man passed a sheet of papers around. Once everyone got one, the clock struck 11:00 AM and the participants took out their pencils. Lena briefly glanced down at the blue disk on her chest, but was distracted by a sudden yelp. Behind her, a kid had his wrist clamped in the old man's pincer-shaped one.
"There will be no cheating on my watch!" the old man growled as he took away a stack of notecards the kid was holding with his other hand which was real. "You're dismissed from the test!"
As the kid was dragged away, Lena thought twice and proceeded to take the test normally.
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Once the written part of the exam was over, the remaining participants were taken down to an underground maze made of white-coated metal with a blue-tinted energy shield encapsulating the whole thing. Before the entrance stood a towering figure clad in full-body armor carrying a giant hammer in both hands.
"Welcome to the physical part of the exam, kiddies!" said the man in a proud manly voice muffled by his crown-shaped helmet. "The main objective here is to get through the maze which is filled with a variety of traps. You may use whatever weapons or skills to do it, but if you should fail to reach the end of the maze when the clock strikes 12:35 then you'll be dismissed from the facility. Do I make myself clear?"
Everyone nodded out of intimidation.
"Excellent! Take five minutes to prepare yourselves."
Glad that she wore sporty clothes today, Lena removed her hoodie and placed it in a locker-room that was located near the maze.
"Where are your weapons?" The short girl asked as she emerged from a changing-room wearing a skin-tight outfit with blue, pink, and white patterning.
"I don't need any," Lena replied confidently. "Especially when I can do this."
The disk on Lena's chest glowed as she appeared back in front of the locker taking off her hoodie once more.
For a moment, the short girl's eyebrows raised. "How did you do that?"
"With the Chronal Accelerator, luv," Lena said pointing to the disk on her chest. "It allows me to travel backwards and forwards in time."
"Isn't that cheating, though? With a power like that, you'll clear the maze before the rest of us have even started."
"I wish I could, but it can only take me backward and forward a few meters before needing to recharge."
"That's too bad," replied the short girl. "Guess I'll be the one to clear this maze first!"
"With what?"
"The great and powerful MEKA, of course!"
Outside the locker-room, a loud humming noise followed. Lena followed the short girl out and saw a machine standing on two feet with mini-guns for hands and jet engines on its back. The exterior of it was painted bright pink and there was a visible cockpit behind a plate of turquoise-colored glass along the front.
"What is that?" Lena asked as the short girl climbed into the cockpit.
"It's a mech, silly!" the short girl said inside the cockpit while clasping a pair of joysticks. "The South Korean military built it to combat a giant Omnic that started plaguing our shores four years ago."
"Sweet ride!" said the boy with the smoking hair, who was now carrying a spiked tire on his back and wearing a vest made of hand-grenades. "Mind if I tag along?"
"There's only room for one passenger, junk boy," the short girl said steering MEKA toward the maze entrance. "You'd just get in my way."
"Junk boy?" The boy with the smoking hair glared. "Why I oughta—
"Time's up, kids!" the man in the armor said, holding his hammer up. "Now allow me to lower the Barrier Field temporarily so you may enter the maze."
With everyone standing back, the man swung the hammer at the blue-tinted shield that blocked the entrance. Upon impact, the shield splintered and created a large opening.
"Honor and glory to you all!" the man in the armor cried as he stood aside to allow everyone to run past him.
But the short girl got through first as MEKA fired its engines and levitated toward the entrance. Upon hitting a wall inside the maze, the girl pressed the red buttons at the top of each joystick, which caused MEKA's mini-guns to fire. The blast caused the wall to collapse allowing MEKA to pass through with its passenger. Then when the others tried to follow, a new wall appeared in a flash of blue light.
"I forgot to mention this, but the maze is entirely made of hard-light technology provided to us by the Vishkar Corporation, one of our main sponsors!" the man in the armor hollered. "So you may cause as much damage as you want without repercussions!"
"Hooley dooley!" said the boy with the smoking hair who took out a round metal object from his pocket. "I'm gonna have a blast with this!"
Placing the metal object on the ground, the boy stood on it with his peg-leg and held up a small detonator. After pressing the big red button, the round object exploded causing the boy to go flying through the air but not high enough to hit the top of the Barrier Field. Some participants were thrown back by the explosion, but Lena managed to activate the Chronal Accelerator in order to move forward to a different point in the maze. Unfortunately, she had warped right into the range of a red turret gun that started firing.
"Ryujin no ken wo kurae!"
To Lena's surprise, a green dragon suddenly flew past her and decimated the turret gun. She looked behind a saw the guy who was at the back of the line with the silver-colored bodysuit brandishing a katana that had a green glow to it.
"Um, thanks," Lena said awkwardly.
The guy nodded and then he climbed up a nearby wall and ran along it.
There sure are a lot of interesting chaps taking this exam, Lena thought as she turned a corner and was relieved to not see a turret gun. That guy was like a ninja or something.
She then felt her foot catch on something, followed by a twang and a brief pain in her neck. Nervously, Lena pulled out a small dart with a tube full of clear liquid. Looking down at her foot, Lena noticed a thin wire which then led to a crossbow that was hidden in a niche between two walls. As she examined these things, Lena's vision grew blurry.
Great, Lena thought to herself. I got hit by a drugged dart! Got to keep Blinking!
So Lena's Chronal Accelerator activated and she moved forward three times before waiting to recharge. Here, she found the floating Omnic hurling the golden orbs from his neck toward a group of incoming missiles that were being launched.
"Oi! You need help, mate?" Lena asked as she stumbled toward the Omnic.
"I would very much appreciate the help," the Omnic replied as the device that launched the missiles exploded. "But the situation is completely under control."
"Oh, that's…good," Lena replied as her eyelids grew heavy.
"What's wrong?" The Omnic turned around and faced her.
"It's a funny story, actually," Lena said, trying to stay awake. "After being saved by this ninja guy, I walked down a passage and tripped on a wire which then activated a crossbow that shot a drugged arrow into my neck and now I feel drowsy."
"Sounds like you were hit by a Sleep Dart, which injects a special type of poison that makes the target fall asleep," the Omnic said. "But do not worry. Allow me to free your mind."
Taking one of the orbs he was throwing before, the Omnic tossed it over Lena's shoulder. The orb glowed for a moment as it hovered behind Lena while the Omnic's body was glowing as well. Then after a few seconds, both the orb and the Omnic lost their light.
"Wow, I feel so much better," Lena said wide-eyed. "How could the same orb you threw to destroy that missile-launcher also heal me?"
"These Orbs are a representation of balance," the Omnic responded. "They can destroy as well as heal. It just depends on how I use them."
From that point on, Lena decided to stick with the Omnic as they navigated through the rest of the maze. In the process, she learned the Omnic's name was Tekhartha Zenyatta, a member of the Shambali who were a group of Omnic monks that had a spiritual awakening in the Himalayan region of Nepal following the Omnic Crisis. Towards the end, though, the two encountered a large pitfall which several participants had fallen into. Fortunately, Zenyatta caught Lena before she fell in as he was able to hover over the pit to the other side.
"Whew! That was a close one," Lena said getting to her feet. "I really owe you one, Tekhartha Zenyatta."
"There is no need to thank me," Zenyatta said humbly. "And I would prefer it if you called me 'Zenyatta' which is actually my first name."
"Ah, sorry," Lena apologized. "I guess that makes sense considering 'Tekhartha' is in Mondatta's name too."
Zenyatta nodded as he and Lena reached the end of the maze. There, the short girl was standing outside her mech chewing bubblegum while the boy with the smoking hair was snoozing against a wall and the guy with the silver bodysuit stood quietly nearby. The man in the armor was there too, and he flinched upon noticing Lena and Zenyatta approach.
"Ah! You managed to get past the pitfall!" said the man in the armor excitedly. "Congratulations! You're officially done with the Overwatch High Entrance Exam!"
"Sure took you long enough," said the short girl smugly. "And I thought traveling through time would make you faster."
"Should've known the limey tart would wind up babysitting the bucket of bolts," the boy with the smoking hair muttered loudly.
"What did you say?" Lena snapped, turning to face the boy with the smoking hair.
"Nothing, sheila," the boy with the smoking hair said dismissively.
"Settle down, kids," said the man in the armor calmly. "This part of the exam isn't determined by who's fastest or slowest but how you handled each situation."
That seemed to quiet the short girl and the boy with the smoking hair, but now Lena was worried about whether she had passed the Entrance Exam overall or not.
To be continued…