After being driven over to the USJ almost a week ago to watch other teams (once who hadn't lost in the first round) with their combat training exercise, Virgil Hawkins did not think he would be back so soon. Once again, both classes were loaded into busses and sent off, but this time, they weren't there to fight. They were there to practice rescue instead. Now, despite the fact that Virgil had been tapping his foot the entire way there, he was not nervous. Not at all.

Sure, he and the rest of his class were being tested on something they'd had minimal, if any, training in. And despite a ton of hours logged in for hero work, as a solo hero and as the leader of his team, Virgil had never had to respond to a situation where his main priority was saving people in need of rescue. He knew that was sometimes necessary, but it was also the job of rescue workers, right?

Usually, Virgil didn't worry about tests this much. Like he'd told Yaoyarozu, Virgil's philosophy was to take being a hero as best he could, without letting it run his life. But then again, he'd also always been confident he'd do well. He was a smart guy, a good fighter, and a not-inadequate detective. But, he had to tell himself, it wasn't like he had to be good at everything, right?

Stowing that line of thought for another day, Virgil joined everyone else with getting out of the bus and entering the USJ. All the teachers were there, ready for them...along with someone else. He was wearing what looked like a hero costume, and he appeared to be American. With short messy brown hair and an average build the only thing that made him stand out was the costume, which was green with six yellow circles connected together by yellow lines. No support items or anything like that. Everyone was looking at the guy, and when the teachers started talking, they addressed that head-on.

"Hello classes, this is Mr. Madrox, also known by the hero name Multiple Man," Mr. Aizawa told them in his usual dull tone. The name didn't ring a single bell with Virgil, but then it wasn't like he knew every hero in America by heart. There were thousands, after all. Then, with no warning, the exhausted looking teached swung a hand and hit Mr. Madrox in the stomach. As expected, the man fell to the floor, but when they looked at where he'd fallen, there were two men there...two Mr. Madrox's.

Both rose to their feet, then one reached out to touch the other, and that one turned into energy and was absorbed by the first. Giving his usual charming smile, Mr. Grayson continued the explanation. "Mr. Madrox here's Quirk is called Duplication. Whenever he gets hit, he can make more of himself. He's the one you're going to be rescuing. How many of him? That's for all of you to find out."

The man himself continued telling them about the exercise. "H-Hey there, ladies and germs. So, yeah, a bunch of me are out there, and they'll be faking their injuries from the 'disaster' as best they can. Rescue them...but be careful to treat them right! Any extra owies, and you'll have more of them to deal with! That'll make it harder to get them to safety, and the more extra me's you bring back, the worse your score will be." It sounded like the guy was trying to be funny, but he also looked a bit nervous to be doing public speaking.

Virgil's mind was racing. Right away, it was clear how they were being graded, at least on one level. They had to make sure and help the people being rescued carefully, and mistakes could cost them dearly. Helping one person to safety is one thing, but doubling or tripling him out of nowhere makes things exponentially more difficult. While Virgil was freaking out a little, Ms. Clay added onto the explanation. "As for where to take the Madrox's you rescue, we'll count this area at the front of the USJ as the 'Safe Zone'. That said, if you're able to administer any help to the injured, do so." The Titan's school counselor's gaze on the students sharpened immeasurably, and she added, "Doing so would be good for your grade, but I would hope heroes would care more about saving people than such things."

"Each team gets 30 minutes to save as many Madrox's as they can," Mr. Aizawa told them, taking control back to finish things off. "But unlike all the other Joint Training Exercises, teams not participating will not be able to view the others' attempts. In order to make it as fair as possible, Madrox positions and injuries are consistent for everyone's Exercise attempt, so you're not able to cheat by watching where others first succeed. We'll be watching everything via monitor," the sleepy hero explained, gesturing to himself and the other teachers, and what seemed to be the Prime Mr. Madrox. "While the rest of you wait outside. We'll call you all in via intercom. Now get out."

With that abrupt signal, all the students exited the USJ, and Virgil looked at his team. But before he could put together a game plan, his homeroom teacher's voice came over the loudspeaker. "Hey, Team Scientific American, you're up first!" Cursing whoever had dealt him this hand, Virgil took a deep breath and entered the building again, his team at his back. Once inside, Mr. Grayson shouted, "Begin!" and they rushed into action.

Immediately, Virgil heard cries from help coming from all over, all of them the voice of Mr. Madrox. "Everyone, save as many as you can, and call for help if you need it!" Without a plan, it was the best Virgil could come up with. After all, he trusted his team to do their best, and the faster they did something the better. Going into action now was better than standing around until he came up with something more coordinated.

Virgil had always chosen to go simple with his hero costumes. At this time, he was wearing a white domino mask over his eyes, a dark blue coat, and a shirt with an electricity symbol inside a circle. It was distinct enough from the Flash's not to get sued. Reaching into the belt on his costume, Virgil grabbed his favorite support item: an unfolding metal disc strong and sturdy enough to hold his weight. Once it was spread out and on the ground, he jumped on and unleashed his Quirk. Static electricity poured out of his body and into the disc, and with it under his control, Virgil flew through the air to look for people to help.

After taking off, he looked around to the various environments, and quickly sped off in the direction of the city. It's where he'd fought the most crime, and with his powers, it was also where he'd be the most useful. More metal meant more options. Keeping an ear open, it wasn't long until Virgil heard someone crying for help. Flying into the open window on a building's third story, he collapsed his disc and stored it again and started looking for the person in danger.

The entire city district looked different than it had last time he was here, made to look like there had been a bombing or earthquake or something. Buildings were all hit badly, partially in rubble, and in some of that rubble Virgil saw the head of Mr. Madrox, who immediately met his eyes. "Hey, someone's here! Oh thank you, wise and benevolent hero!" His words were overly enunciated, glowing with sarcasm. "Now, uh, can you get me out of here?"

Only his head and part of one part was immediately visible, the rest covered in debris. All of which was concrete, but a quick check confirmed for Virgil that the wall had been laced with steel rebar. Funneling his electricity into that structure, he was able to lifted most of the debris off of the man. While holding all that with his Quirk, Virgil started moving rubble until he could drag Mr. Madrox to one side. Then, once he was out of the way, he let his Quirk go and the material fell back to where it had been before.

Dust rose into the air, and when it had blown away enough to see, Virgil sucked in a breath. He knew it was make-up, that this was just an exercise, but Mr. Madrox looked injured. One arm was hanging limply at his side, and the other looked like it was bleeding. "Hey, can you stand, Mr. Madrox?" was what he asked him first.

That had apparently been the wrong thing to do. "Really? Save a person and that's the first thing you ask them? Not 'It's going to be okay' or 'Don't worry, I'm here to help' or even 'Where does it hurt'? Do you think someone just pulled out of rubble is going to know if they can stand or not?" The hero rolled his eyes, and Virgil felt embarrassed. "Oh, and just call me Jamie. Anyway, yeah, I can stand, but I can't use my right arm at all, and the left one hurts like hell."

From the way he was talking, it didn't sound like he was actually in any pain, but Virgil got what he was trying to say: treat him as if that were true. Nodding his head, and trying to get it back into the game, Virgil pulled out his disk again and set it up, then helped Jamie to stand on it with him. "Alright, Jamie, it'll be okay. Let me take you somewhere safe." Then, once they were both standing on the disk, Virgil pumped it with his electricity so they could start rising into the air.

"Ow!" Jamie yelped, the sound clearly genuine, and suddenly there were two of him, both looking annoyed. "What are you doing, shocking people you're trying to rescue?" Virgil didn't understand what had happened, his disk was supposed to be safe...until he looked down at the two Jamie's feet.

Slapping his hand against his forehead, Virgil felt like an idiot. "You're not wearing rubber-soled shoes." He'd had people ride with him before without an issue, but that was because they're been wearing the right footwear. The costumes the Jamie's had on didn't have rubber lining on the bottom, causing the shock. They looked like they wanted to say something to Virgil, but he waved a hand and interrupted them. "I know, I know, I shouldn't just assume people I'm saving will fit my expectations, that was stupid of me." Both Jamie's nodded their heads and smiled at that, happy he got the point. Moving back toward the rubble Jamie had been pulled out of, Virgil dug through until he found what he was looking for: a flat section of concrete wide enough for two people to stand on it comfortably. Using his Quirk on it again, he brought it closer to the waiting heroes and set it on the floor. "Stand here, you shouldn't be shocked this time."

They did as he asked, and soon Virgil and the Jamie's were flying out of the city area and back to the front of the USJ. He had no clue how much time he'd spent on just this one Jamie, his sense of that had gone out the window in his panic. Had it been five minutes? Ten? Fifteen? Feeling a bit aggravated, as a way to avoid thinking of how he'd messed up, Virgil couldn't help complaining. "I know it's bad to zap a civ, but the punishment here is pretty crazy. It's not like actual people in need are gonna duplicate any time we make a mistake?"

"Do you know that for sure?" was the immediate response from one of the Jamie's. He didn't sound joking this time, but pensieve and serious. "When you're saving people, you not only need to think about what you can do, but what they can do. Or rather, how you don't know. Not everyone with crazy Quirks becomes a hero, you know? It's entirely possible you'll run into someone in a bad situation who splits like me, or grows larger when they're anxious, or shrinks with fear. Quirks are crazy! As a hero, you need to have things like that on your mind, and try to plan ahead."

Great, now Virgil felt even worse. Jamie had made a good point, and Virgil couldn't avoid the fact he was trying to think around where he'd failed. His entire strategy, or lack thereof, was a problem. So once he got the Jamie's back to the front of the USJ, where they joined several others waiting there already, saved by his teammates, Virgil didn't head off again. Instead, he waited for the rest of his team to come back, one by one, and told them the new plan.

This time, Virgil and Karen were working recon. They both could fly, and quickly locate Jamie's in need. Each of them had a helper, Grant and Nia, who could use their Quirks to easily and safely retrieve the Jamie's from their predicaments. Once they were rescued, they'd send a signal to Mal, who would use his Audioporting to make a portal to there from the entrance, and take the Jamie's to safety, so the others could go back to finding and helping more Jamie's.

Virgil knew it wasn't the best possible plan he could have come up with, it wasn't very 'Plus Ultra', but he didn't care. It felt like it was working, a lot better than before. By the time the thirty minutes was up, they'd saved a total of eleven Jamie's, though three of those were dupes made from injuring him during rescue. None of them thought they'd passed with flying colors, but Virgil actually walked up feeling good that at least he'd pulled out something in the last half. He'd just need to wait on his detailed results to learn how to improve.

It was impossible for Momo Yaoyarozu to say that she wasn't nervous for the exercise. After all, she'd led her team to a loss in the first round of the Joint Combat Exercises, and done poorly with the Joint Investigation Exercise. She was pretty sure she wasn't imagining the concerned looks from her teammates. But, despite all of that, and her general issue with nerves, Momo was trying to stay positive. She'd been studying Search and Rescue ever since they missed their chance to practice it during the USJ Attack, and she'd done very well during that very section of their License Exam.

She'd already shared her plan with her team while they waited outside, and while some members of her class looked nervous about it, on the whole it seemed they were willing to trust her with what she wanted to do. Finally, after everyone else in the class had gone, and they finished setting things up one last time, they called in Momo's team. Heart hammering in her chest, and her friends stepped inside, ready to do their best.

Once inside, everyone went about their tasks. Koda started calling out to the animals nearby, asking for their help in locating the injured hero duplicates. When they'd been let in earlier, Momo had thought she'd spied birds in the forest area, and it seemed her guess had been right: they had added animals to the USJ, possibly for verisimilitude...or possibly for how they'd interact with Koda's Quirk. While he was off, asking the animals to mark the locations of the Jamie's as best they could, moving from sector to sector, Tokoyami and Sero went to the nearest environment, the river area.

Both were the most mobile of the team, and could use their Quirks to rescue any duplicates of Mr. Madrox they found. Finding them would be easy, thanks to Koda telling birds to fly visibly above any duplicate he found. Together, the two would go through each environment, one by one, to find and rescue all the versions of Mr. Madrox there, and bring them to the front area.

While they were doing that, Momo and Ojiro got to work. Using her Quirk, Momo started making a clean sheet for people to safely lie on, so they wouldn't get dirty. That done, she started making everything else they'd need: medical supplies, towels, and water bottles. It took a lot of lipids to make all that, and it felt exhausting for Momo. She took a short break, while Ojiro went to the nearby water source to fill up the water bottles.

Soon, the first versions of Mr. Madrox were arriving, being delivered by her teammates, and Momo was ready. She and Ojiro worked on treating their fake injuries as best they could, making them comfortable, and giving them as much water as they needed. The time moved quickly for her as they all did their part, and shortly after they'd found and helped their twentieth duplicate, a timer went off. Momo was confused at first, by her estimate, they still had seven minutes left. "With time to spare, Momo Yaoyarozu's team has not only rescued every Jamie Madrox, they also treated them! Detailed reports later, but for now, give yourselves a clap on the back! You did great!"

The youthful exuberance in Mr. Grayson's voice as he sang their praises embarrassed Momo, but soon her team had enveloped her in a group hug, and they left the USJ in high spirits. On the bus ride back, they decided to not enforce who went on which bus, allowing them to mix and match however they'd like. To Momo's surprise, Virgil sat next to her right away, looking at her with clearly conflicted feelings in his eyes, but a smile on his face. "Word on the street is you guys knocked it out of the park! Congrats. Where'd it come from, though?"

Feeling unsure how to respond, Momo shrugged and meekly told him, "Well, I suppose I had more practice with this aspect of hero work beforehand. That, and I've made sure to put a lot of effort into studying it." Then, feeling rude for only talking about herself, Momo asked him, "How did you and your team do?" She'd been so busy going over details with her team that she hadn't paid much attention to any of the other groups as they left the USJ.

Momo got a similar shrug to the one she'd given Virgil earlier as a response. "I blew it." Running a hand through his thick black hair, his mask of self-assurance fell away a little as Momo saw how troubled he was really feeling. "I'd been stressing out about it, since it isn't anything we'd really trained in, and I tried to just wing it. Bad idea. By the time I'd actually started using my head and making a real plan, time was up." He allowed himself a brief sigh, then added, "At least I'm not alone. From the looks of it, the only team from my school that did good was Tim's. Meanwhile, everyone from UA looks like they passed, even that explosive hothead."

It felt rude of her to admit, even in her own head, but Momo was surprised to hear that Bakugo had done well. She and he were, in a way, opposite extremes as two of the top students in the class. One was better suited for support, the other combat. One struggled with self-confidence, the other his own arrogance. The thing that they had in common, more than getting good grades, was that they wanted to be heroes. That was what Momo decided was most important. "Well, hopefully you can use the notes you get back to work to improve," Momo finally told Virgil, unsure of what else to say to him.

To her surprise, his first response was to laugh. "Look at that. A week ago I dump on you for the whole Plus Ultra thing, act like I've got everything figured out, and now here we are." Looking a little more serious, but still good humored, he continued, "Not to say I'm suddenly changing my whole worldview or anything, but I can see how sometimes going above and beyond can pay off." Reaching out a hand to her, he asked, "How about we make a deal: you promise to let yourself take a break and relax sometimes, and I promise to give you a run for your money next time we go head to head."

When Momo had first been assigned to work with Virgil, she hadn't been sure what to make of him. In many ways, they were worlds apart. A working class teen from the other side of the world, who made everything look easy and didn't seem to have an ounce of stress in his body. She'd seen more recently how that wasn't really the case, and in the process he'd learned more about her as well. With no hesitation, Momo reached out to take and shake his hand, accepting the promise and telling herself she'd do her best to live up to her end of it.