"Mmm~wah!" Recovery Girl kissed Bruce's forehead. The scrapes on his face quickly healed. Since they were barely anything, Bruce didn't feel the slightest bit of tiredness. "Now, how are you feeling?"
Bruce touched his face to feel soft skin. "Much better. Thank you." Recovery Girl nodded and then her demeanor shifted a bit. "How is… your side?" Bruce paused and then slowly lifted his uniform to reveal his scar. "It's aching a bit. Not sure if you can help with that." Recovery Girl eyes his scar sadly. "Well, let's see." The nurse planted a kiss on Bruce's side, and she activated her Quirk. After she was done, Bruce sighed and lowered his shirt. "It doesn't hurt anymore. Thank you, Recovery Girl." She nodded and said, "If the pain returns, just come back and I'll write a prescription for pain killers. Now get back out there. The second stage will be starting soon." Bruce nodded and left the room.
Soon he made his way to the stadium field. "Wayne!" a multitude of voices called out. The teen turned to see his group of friends running up to him.
"You came in 2nd place! So close to first!" Prince exclaimed.
Clark patted Bruce's shoulder. "I was right to worry about you. You're awesome, Wayne!"
Hal eyed Bruce's waist curiously. "Where did your belt go? No, wait, where did you pull it out from during the obstacle race?" Bruce replied, "You never know when you'll need it." "That's not an answer!" Hal shouted.
"Wayne has so many cool gadgets! They look like fun!" Wally cheered as he bounced up and down.
"Man! I got taken out at the end! Damn, I was so close!" Shayera bemoaned. J'onn simply nodded in agreement.
Bruce was silent. Even after all my efforts, I only ended up as second best. That means I didn't try hard enough. His fist clenched. No more of that. I have to win this!
"Alright, the first stage of the first-year competition is done!" Midnight announced. "The top 42 will now go on to the next round." She turned to the holoscreen behind her. "I know the next game, but what could it be? Just what could it be? The hero cracked her flog at it. "Here it is!"
Bruce quirked an eyebrow. "A cavalry battle? That's not an individual event…"
"Here is how it will work," Midnight began to explain. The participants will form teams made of two to four people. It is the same as any other cavalry battle but with one major difference. Based on the results of the last game, everyone has been assigned a point value."
Bruce brought his hand to his chin as he realized the implications of that rule. "A point-based system like the entrance exam? That means each team will be worth a different amount of points based on who is on them." The holoscreen then switched to show the assigned point values. "Hm, the values go up by five starting from the bottom." He quickly found his name. "My value is 205. So Midoriya is…" Bruce's eyes trailed up to the name above his, and he was unable to keep them from going wide with shock.
10,000,000!?
Bruce quickly glanced at Izuku. The green-haired teen was sweating and clearly shocked. He was the center of everyone's attention like a rabbit in the middle of a bunch of hungry wolves. So all anyone needs to do is take down Midoriya's team, and they'll be set at the top regardless of their previous placements. Bruce felt something stir in him, and his vision zeroed in on Izuku. This is my chance!
They were given 15 minutes to choose their teams. Bruce stood off to the side, still in his thinking mode. "This isn't a solo event. I need to take into consideration the compatibility of others and their Quirks." He raised his head and scanned a bit. "A four-person team maybe harder to manage, but there is the advantage in numbers. Now to find three people with suitable Quirks."
"Umm… hey Wayne…" a meek voice came from behind him. Bruce blinked and turned to see a nervous Izuku. "Midoriya?" The other teen awkwardly had his hand outstretched. "Uh, you wouldn't mind teaming up with me… right?" Bruce just stared at Izuku, causing his tension to rise. He quickly tried to explain. "It's just-! You see, I saw what you could do during the obstacle race. You have a useless Quirk but you're really good with your equipment. So I figured together, you could help protect the points, and we all get to the next round." Bruce brought his hand up to his chin as he thought over the pros and cons of such an arrangement. After a few minutes that seemed to stretch for hours, he finally looked back up at Izuku.
"Your offer is very tempting, Midoriya. My skills provide you protection, and I get a free pass to the next round. It's seemingly a win-win solution." Izuku's face lit up with hope.
"So will you-!"
"But," Bruce cut him off, "there is a high risk to such an arrangement. As of now you basically have a target painted on your back. I'm assuming that fact has caused no one else to want to team up with you." Izuku's silence was enough confirmation so he continued. "With only two members, we wouldn't stand a chance with everyone else coming at us. And I couldn't help be notice you have yet to use your Quirk, Midoriya." The green-haired teen swallowed nervously. "You've told me it grants you super strength which would have beem useful against the combat robots. Yet you deliberately choose not to use your Quirk during an event that is meant to showcase our abilities." Bruce allowed the silence to settle before asking, "Am I correct in assuming that your Quirk has a serious drawback that could potentially hinder your performance in future rounds?" The expression of pure shock on Izuku's face was the answer he needed. "Apologies Midoriya, but I'll have to decline teaming up with you. Besides, riding on someone's coattails is not how I want to win." Bruce crossed his arms and walked away. "I will reach the top by my own volition." Izuku stared after the other teen.
He- he managed to deduce my weakness from a single observation. Wayne is not someone to be underestimated… he might just be up there with Kacchan and Todoroki as the biggest obstacle. Izuku took a deep breath to settle his nerves. I have to find a team that'll allow me to stay at the top!
Meanwhile, Bruce was approaching Clark. "Hey, Kent!" His friend turned to him and smiled. "Hi, Wayne! Have you found a team yet?" Bruce shook his head. "No. I was actually coming to ask if you'd be part of my team." Clark gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry Wayne, but I'm already part of a team." The other teen blinked and then peeked around Clark to see Dinah, Arthur, and Hal behind him.
Bruce sighed. "Damn, guess I'm too late." Clark shrugged. "Who knows, maybe it's for the best. If we kept playing as friends, we wouldn't get stronger, right?" Bruce smirked. "That's true. Right now, everyone is an enemy." His smirk morphed in aggression. "I will not go down easily." Clark returned a similar grin. "I never once thought you would."
As Clark walked away, Bruce found himself back to square one. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Wayne! Let's be a team!" Diana exclaimed. Bruce turned his head to find her beaming smile right up in his face. He suddenly couldn't think straight.
So-! So close!
He quickly turned to her. "P-Prince! Are you sure? I-ah-! Why do you want to team up with me?" he asked. Diana smiled. "Isn't it obvious? It is better to work with people you like!" Bruce felt blood rush to his cheeks, and his heart skipped a beat. "Well-! Thank you! I want to partner up with you, too." Having calmed down, he immediately began to look around. "I think four members will better our chances in the event, so we still need two people." Diana nodded and started searching, too. Her eyes then spotted someone. "Oh!" She ran off and came back with Nathaniel. "Wayne, how about Adams? His Quirk has a long range and will definitely provide protection." Nathaniel flexed his hand. "I'd be happy to join your team." Bruce pondered a bit and replied, "Yes, this can work." He then turned to search for the final member.
Just one more person. Prince and Adams' Quirks are both strong, but they will be restricted as the base. I need someone… Someone's whose Quirk can move freely!
Bruce's eyes landed on the perfect candidate. He walked over to them. "Hey," he called out. The person turned.
"Alright, everyone! The 15 minutes are up and the teams have formed! It's time for a bloody battle! Get your battle cries ready!" Present Mic announced.
Bruce tightened his headband. Diana and Nathaniel were secured at his sides, and Jason held him up on his back, red arms sprouting out his abdomen.
"Prince."
"Yeah!"
"Adams."
"Yes!"
"Blood."
"Hm."
"We're going to get the 10,000,000 headband. No one is getting in our way!" Bruce declared.
"Right!" his classmates replied.
"Start!"
It was a no-brainer that every team rushed at Midoriya's team. Bruce recognized two of the green-haired teen's classmates and took note of the support items likely provided by the pink-haired support course student.
"Let's not go head on immediately," Bruce told his team. "Though our end-goal is that headband, we shouldn't place all our hopes of making it to the next round on it immediately."
"What is your plan, Wayne?" Nathaniel asked.
Bruce pulled out a grapple from the utility belt that was once again around his waist. "Since the other teams are so focused on stealing Midoriya's headband, they likely aren't paying attention to their own."
Izuku's team flew up into the air, thanks to Mei's jet pack and hover shoes and Uraraka's Quirk. Tokoyami managed to block an attack from Jiro's jacks. Dark Shadow was able to make up for their lack of defense with its omnidirectional mid-range.
They soon landed and were on the run again. However, the other teams were in for a nasty surprise.
"Hagakure! Where's your headband?" Sato asked in a panic. The invisible girl frantically flailed. 'When did this happen?!"
"Kendo! Your headband's gone!" Tetsutetsu exclaimed.
"How did I lose my headband already?!" both Dinah and Mari shouted when their respective teams noticed.
Neito looked among the chaos smugly. "It would seem that they all allowed themselves to get distracted, and someone gave them the slip. How uncoordinated," he said with a shrug. Then he heard a faint "whir"-ing sound and felt the tug of his band as it was pulled away from his neck. Neito followed the grapple bringing the piece of cloth to Bruce's hand. He placed it with the others around his own neck.
"Don't act all high and mighty when you yourself aren't immune to flaws," Bruce said.
"Whoa! Wayne's team is coming in hot and swiping all the other team's headbands!" Present Mic exclaimed.
"The 0-JL class… they were a wildcard from the beginning. Such a class didn't exist until this year. "Neito's expression grew somewhat psychotic with restrained tranquil fury. "They threw a wrench in our plan. Class 1-B was purposefully meant to hang back in the preliminaries to observe our main opponents: 1-A. But then several from 0-JL took spots near the top, knocking out a majority of 1-B."
Bakugo saw the grapple out of the corner of his eyes. He snarled and batted it away with an explosion. "You think I'd fall for that, you bastard?!" Then Bakugo felt a single finger slip between the headband and his hair and heard the rip of Velcro giving way. Bruce secured his prize while reeling in the grapple he had sent around as a distraction. "No, you may be a brute, but I can tell you're not an idiot," the seen said as he and his team ran off.
The blonde was stunned and then yelled, "Get back here! I'll fucking kill you, Rich Boy!"
His team gave chase as did Neito's. "We've got to get that back! We have zero points!" Sero exclaimed. "I can cut them off!" Mina said. She raised her hand and aimed a shot of acid. It was meant to cut off Wayne's team for a few seconds which was enough time for Bakugo to swipe back the headband and maybe a few extras. However, Jason noticed and quickly brought up a red arm to block the acid.
"Nngh-!" he hissed while wincing. "Blood, you okay?" Nathaniel asked. "I'm fine. Let's focus on the task at hand," the red-and-white-haired teen reassured.
"Make a right! Skid!" commanded Bruce. Diana drove her foot into the concrete. Holding on tight, her team rotated with her as the pivot. She then pushed off the ground, kicking up chunks of it and propelling her team forward. "Nicely done, Prince!" complimented Bruce. Diana smiled brightly.
"Get back here! Stop running away!" Bakugo roared as his team continued to give chase, Neito's team following in suit.
Izuku and his team were cornered, all teams were coming at them. Todoroki was going to make sure they didn't get in his way. "Kaminari, do it!"
The electric blonde grinned. "Be sure to cover up well." He then unleashed the electricity had been charging up. "Indiscriminate Shock… 1.3 Million Volts!" All teams were hit with the electricity, freezing them in place. Todoroki used the insulated tarp Momo created to shield his team. Todoroki wasted no time freezing the ground through the staff Momo also had created, trapping the teams. "That should take care of them."
"You guys hang on! There's only a minute left after." Tenya began concentrating energy to his engines. "I can only use this once, so I'm counting on you to get it to Todoroki."
"Iida?"
Blue energy burst out of his exhaust pipes, and the sudden speed propelled them forward right at Deku's team.
"Torque Over… Recipro Burst!"
The second they passed, Shoto snatched the headband right off of Deku's head. The entire stadium was in an uproar over the sudden demonstration of super speed.
"What was that?" Shoto asked, stunned. Tenya breathed heavily. "Just a special move I haven't told anyone about. I create explosive power increasing the torque and rotations. Though the recoil causes my engines to stall." Tenya turned to Izuku who looked beyond shocked. "I told you, remember? That I would challenge you."
"We have to get it back!" Izuku exclaimed. "But if we attack, we'll be at a disadvantage because of Kaminari," Tokoyami said. "But we don't know how the other points are split. This is our only chance!" Izuku replied.
"It's not your only chance!" exclaimed another voice.
Something leaped over the ice barrier and landed hard. When the dust settled, it revealed Clark with Arthur and Hal at his sides and Dinah on his back.
"What? But weren't they hit by Kaminari's Quirk and then frozen?" questioned Shoto.
Hal smirked and his eyes and ring glowed then a green prism formed around his team. "Electricity and ice have no effect on a barrier that blocks basically everything."
Todoroki "tch"-ed while Momo looked despondent.
"There's less than a minute left, but we'll be taking the 10,000,000 points," Clark said.
"Don't leave us out of this!" came another voice. The air was filled with the sounds of hits coming in rapid succession and of ice cracking. Soon a large section of the ice barrier was destroyed, shattering and crumbling forward. Wally lowered his leg, signifying he had kicked down the section. Wally was the base of his team, with Don and Hank on the sides and Mari on top. However, Wally looked a bit… off. His eyes were wide open and his green irises were small. He had a wide smile that showed off his teeth. Wally looked like a psychotic little cutie. The Hall brothers and Mari spared him a few concerned glances but remained concentrated on the opponents in front of them.
"W-West? Are you okay?" Clark called out to him. The redhead giggled in response. "I'm fine Kent! In fact, I feel great!" he responded. "I had to protect my team from that electric attack, so I absorbed all of the volts that reached us. My Quirk grants me extreme speeds because of excess kinetic energy in my body. Electricity is the movement of electric charges. In other words, electricity is just another form of kinetic energy." Somehow, Wally's grin grew. "And now I'm juiced up past my limits." Wally put one leg forward.
"Flash Forward… Overcharge!"
Meanwhile, as this was all going on, Bruce, Bakugo, and Neito's teams were still keeping up their game of keep-away. Bakugo blasted away from his and was heading towards Bruce.
"You fucking Rich Boy! Give it back!" he exclaimed. "Adams!" Bruce shouted. "On it," the other teen replied. He quickly brought his hand up, sending an arc of radiation at the blonde. Sero snagged Bakugo with his Quirk and was able to reel him back from being hit.
"Bakugo, don't go acting on your own," Kirishima said once the blonde was safely on his back. "Shut up! We need to get it back! I'll take all of Rich Boy's headbands for messing with me!"
"You criticized me earlier for looking down on others, yet you yourself seem to have forgotten about us. What, are we not threatening enough?" Neito asked as he reached for the headbands around Bruce's neck. The black-haired teen backhanded the blonde's hand without even looking, much to his shock. "It's not that. I see everyone as a threat for first place." He gave the blonde a side glare. "However, the difference in our goals tells me you were never really aiming for the top to begin with." Neito looked confused before forcing a smile. "So you think you have got me all figured out?" His team charged at Bruce's team. "That's quite arrogant of you!"
"Not arrogance, empathy," Bruce said as he blocked Neito's hand with his forearm, "You're not the only one who's felt jealousy." Neito gave a condescending smirk. "Ho? And how would you-?" He stopped mid-sentence and his expression morphed into one of confusion. He quickly snapped out of it and brought his hand down to flick the tips of Nathaniel's quiff. Bruce's eyes widened a bit when he saw the familiar glow of red-speckled blue energy emerge from Neito's palm. He managed to dodge the arc of radiation that barely missed clipping his chin. His team backed up and stopped a few feet away from their opponents.
"He has the same Quirk as me?" Nathaniel asked in shock. "No," Bruce said as he straightened up. "He can copy other people's Quirks. I presume through physical contact. Judging from your reaction you got nothing from me. Sorry to disappoint but my useless Quirk would not help anyone."
Neito smirked. "A useless Quirk, you say? How could anyone with such a thing possibly become a hero?" However, in his head, Neito was thinking, It wasn't like that. I can't really explain it, but whenever I copy a Quirk, I can always feel something there. As if there is something to be taken. But with him there just was… nothing.
"Hey! You don't know what Wayne can do! Even if he doesn't have a flashy Quirk, he still has what it takes to be an amazing hero!" Diana angrily shouted. "Calm down, Prince. There is no reason to become angry for me," Bruce said. She looked up at him. "But… Wayne, he-!" "It's fine," he reassured her, "His words are merely empty provocation."
"Don't ignore me, you bastard!" Bakugo shouted as his team charged at Bruce's. The black-haired teen's eyes darted between the two teams coming at them. "I have a plan to get them both off of us. Follow my lead."
Bruce's team darted away from Bakugo's causing them to instead be near Neito's. As they passed, the Class B student reached out and despite Bruce leaning away, Neito managed to snatch the top headband around his neck. He got a good look at it and realized, "This is Bakugo's headband."
Neito smirked. "Come to think of it, you're quite famous, right? After all, you were the victim of that sludge incident."
"What?" Bakugo made his team come to a halt, and he glared at the other blonde.
"Monoma, don't provoke him. You'll just be as bad as him," Kaibara said. "I suppose you're right," Neito agreed. "Besides, don't villains usually do heroes in out of revenge?"
Bakugo gritted his teeth in rage. "Kirishima… change of plans. I'm going to fucking kill him!"
"Bakugo, wait! If you don't calm down, we can't get those points!"
Explosions went off in Bakugo's palms. "I am fucking calm! Now go forward!"
Bruce glanced back at the conflict. "It worked perfectly. I put Bakugo's headband on top, increasing the chance that Monoma would grab it. I can tell that Class 1-B bears ill will towards Class 1-A, Monoma especially so. He wouldn't be able to resist the chance to mock a 1-A student. As for Bakugo, his short temper makes it easy to provoke and cause him to switch targets. The headband is there to add the probability of receiving a reward for going after Monoma." Bruce returned to looking forward. "They'll keep each other busy."
Diana glanced at the scoreboard. "Wayne, we have enough points to get to the next round! We just have to guard for about a minute!"
"No." She, Nathaniel, and Jason glanced at Bruce in confusion. "We cannot settle on just 'enough.' Our end-goal is to get the 10,000,000 points." He stared ahead at the opening in the ice barrier surrounding the fight for that headband. "We will get it. I've got a plan."
The burst of wind blew nearly everyone off their feet. Once it had settled, everyone else turned towards Wally's team. Don, Hank, and Mari all had their hair blown back by the sheer boost in speed, and Mari triumphant held a headband.
"It's ours now! We just have to-!"
"Jordan! Plugs!" Dinah yelled. Hal's ring glowed and several beams of light sprung forth. They reached each base members' ears and left earplugs when they retreated.
"Canary Cry… Max Volume!"
Dinah unleashed an extremely loud scream that spread out. Everyone cringed in pain as their eardrums rattled. While the riders could cover their ears, it didn't do much. And the students that made up the bases, unfortunately, had no way to protect their ears and just had to endure it. With all teams stunned by Dinah's attack, Clark and co. rushed at Wally's team, and she was able to snatch the headband out of Mari's hand.
They skidded to a halt, and Dinah cut her scream off. "We did it! We got-!" Her face fell when she saw the number. "This isn't the 10,000,000 points!"
"What!?" Clark, Arthur, and Hal exclaimed.
Mari was also surprised. "It was the wrong headband? He must have switched it out knowing that the top one would be grabbed first." She quickly returned her attention to her team. "West, you need to- ah?!" Don and Hank also stared at Wally in shock. The previously hyper boy now had a dopey wide smile and his eyes were droopy. His head tilted to the side as he kept nodding off. "I… suddenly… feel… very sleepy…"
"Damn! That electricity boose basically caused a sugar rush in him. Now he's coming down from the high and experiencing a crash!" Hank exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Deku, seeing that he still had a chance, activated One for All in his arm, and Shoto brought up his left arm and ignited his fire.
I won't hit him. I'm just going to break his defense!
With a quick swipe to the side, Izuku caused enough wind to blow Shoto's arm away, leaving the headbands open for the taking. The teen stared at the flames, stunned.
My left side… when did I-?
Now's my chance!
An explosion rang out, and Bakugo flew over the remaining ice that hadn't been destroyed by Dinah's earlier attack.
"Deku! Icy-Hot bastard!" he exclaimed.
"Todoroki! Get it together!" Iida shouted. Shoto broke from his stupor and readied his right arm.
The timer had hit the final countdown. Deku reached out, hoping to grab the 10,000,000 points back before Todoroki froze his arm or Kacchan reached them.
Just… a little… closer…!
A hand grabbed onto the headband. Izuku, Katsuki, Shoto, and everyone just stared. Bruce remained stoic as he ripped it away from Todoroki's neck, allowing them to see the red "10,000,000." Everything was in slow motion as they could only watch as Bruce said one thing as he was upside down.
"Nice try."
Then time sped up as he was pulled back towards his team by an elongated red arm.
"Nice one, Wayne! I didn't know you could leap that far!" Nathaniel praised.
The buzzer went off.
"Time! Wow! Did you all see that!? Wayne pulled off a crazy move and managed to score the 10,000,000 points at the literally the last second!"
The crowd cheered.
Deku and Shoto along with their teams just stared at Bruce, absolutely stunned. Bakugo had fallen onto the ground on his face and his team was busy making sure he was okay.
"How did he…?" Izuku trailed off.
"He just showed up out of nowhere," Shoto said.
"In first place, we have Team Wayne! In second place, we have Team Todoroki! Coming in third, we've got Team Bakugo!"
Deku was quiet as Mei helped remove the jetpack. He turned to his teammates. "You guys… I'm really sorry…," he said.
"Midoriya," Tokoyami called to him. "Todoroki was shaken by your attack, allowing me to take the headband on his head off." Dark Shadow rose to reveal what it had clutched in its mouth. "I also grabbed a few extras…"
"Hmm?" "Wayne, what's wrong?" Diana asked. "Nothing it's just… some of the headbands around my neck are gone."
"However, Todoroki's was the biggest contribution to our points. We got it thanks to your last attack." Dark Shadow gave a thumbs-up.
"And in fourth place, a tie between Teams Midoriya and- Shinso!? When were they coming up from behind?"
Izuku's eyes burst into twin geysers of tears, releasing so much force he dug into the ground.
Bruce observed from a distance. "Is his Quirk super strength or the ability to never become dehydrated?"
"All five teams will advance to the next round! For now, we will take an hour break for lunch! See ya at noon! Eraser. Mid-Nite. Let's get some food."
"I'm going to sleep." "I have work to do."
As the students filed out to the cafeteria, Bruce's friends converged.
"Congratulations, Prince. You made it to the next round!" Shayera said as she playfully punched the other girl's shoulder. Diana just awkwardly laughed as she rubbed the spot. "Jordan, is West okay?" J'onn asked. The brunette was carrying a sleeping Wally on his back. The redhead still had a dopey smile and was drooling on Hal's shoulder. Hal gave an embarrassed smile. "He'll be fine. Once he smells food, he'll be wide awake." He glanced around a bit. "Hey, where's Kent and Wayne?" The other three teens then noticed the missing two.
"I'm not sure," Diana said. "Where did they go?"
Now for the Preview!
The final round is next!
What surprises await us all?
Next time: Fight, Fight, Fight!
Time to scope out my opponents.
Alright, the third chapter is here! Up next is the fighting tournament!
