Chapter 1: A New Start
After registering at the main office, Adam had to figure out his way to the grand hall. He found that navigating the school was a lot easier than it looked. Once he entered the grand hall, he found that it was filled with thousands of students. He had never seen so many people in one place, it was hard to imagine how many of these students would pass the exam.
Adam made his way towards his designated seat. He shuffled through a few people as he found his empty seat. He sat down as he looked out towards the stage that faced the students. Adam noticed only one person standing on the platform, an older man who wore a suit and had horns sticking out the side of his head. The older man walked up to the podium as he tapped the microphone to get everyone's attention.
"Hello prospective students! Welcome to USAHA." He announced. "My name is Kevin Rowland and I am the Vice Principal here at our fine school."
Adam and the rest of the students listened attentively as Mr. Rowland continued to speak.
"Today you are all here to take the entrance exams and find out if you have what it takes to attend this institution. The first step will be to take the written portion and from there you will take the physical part." Mr. Rowland explained.
As he explained the rules, a holo-screen appeared in front of each student. "You will have thirty minutes to complete this exam and just so you know, if any of you try and even glance at the persons test next to you. We will know and there will be serious repercussions."
Most of the students nodded in understanding as the timer on the screens began to count down. "You may begin."
Like the rest of the students, Adam immediately began the test. He noticed that the test was fairly straightforward and that many questions on here didn't seem difficult whatsoever. He found that strange, you would think that a school like USAHA would have a much more difficult written exam. Adam shrugged it off and just answered the questions as honestly as he could. As he continued to take the test, a sudden light appeared that shined on a single student a few rows in front of Adam.
"You there! Row 20, seat 15, get up and get out." Rowland pointed out.
All the students gasped as they looked towards the young male who sat frozen in fear. "Me? W-why?"
Rowland stared him down. "For cheating, did you not listen when I explained this rule?"
The young male gulped. "But I-I wasn't cheating."
"Oh, so are you calling me a liar? Are you saying that you did not cheat?"
"N-no sir! It's just that I only took a peek." The student said fearfully.
"Exactly, now get up and get out. You are barred from ever applying to USAHA again." Rowland explain as a matter of fact.
Everyone looked on in astonishment as the young male student got up and began heading out towards the exit. His head was hanging low, an expression of shame and embarrassment on his face. Once he left the grand hall, Mr. Rowland gave the students another warning. "Do you all understand the repercussions of cheating now? Let that young man be an example of the consequences you might face when you are caught."
"Man…. this school doesn't hold back does it?" Adam thought to himself.
"Continue with your exam, you only have ten minutes left."
All the students returned their attention to the test. They sat stiff in their seats, making sure that they didn't move a muscle because no one else wanted to suffer the same fate as that boy. After the last ten minutes were up, the holo-screen in front of everyone disappeared.
"That is, it for this exam. I hope everybody was able to finish. Now I will go ahead and explain the physical part of the exam."
A giant holo-screen appeared behind the vice principal, which showed the image of some sort of map. "The physical portion will require you to go through an obstacle course. You will start from point A and make your way to point B. Your score will depend on how quickly you finish the course. Any questions?"
One young girl raised her hand. "Um, sir is that all? The rules seem kind of vague."
Rowland chuckled. "What is so vague about simple instructions? You will begin at the starting line and make your way to the finish line."
"I guess so." The girl said confused.
"If there are no more questions, than make your way to the locker rooms and change into any comfortable clothing you brought with you. After that make your way to your assigned arena." He explained.
Everyone began to exit the grand hall, but many of them left dumbfounded at the rules of the physical. It just seemed like everyone was expecting a more difficult physical. Although, to Adam it seemed strange that the written and now the physical exams seemed so simple. There had to be more to it, there had to be a reason. For now, he made his way over the locker rooms in order to prepare himself for the next test.
A few moments later, after changing into some gym clothes, Adam arrived at his designated arena. He noticed many of the students stretching and warming themselves up for the coming course. It seemed that the school split the students into groups and assigned them to certain arenas. Adam was a part of the group that went to arena seven. He made his way over to a more secluded area, away from most other students so that he could clear his mind. As Adam walked by a few people, he was accidently bumped by someone who was stretching.
"Oh gosh, I`m sorry." She said.
Adam stared at her for a moment before replying. She was an attractive young girl, she had straight shoulder length brown hair. Her eyes were green and she wore comfortable workout clothes. "That's alright." He said.
She smiled. "Pretty nerve racking, right?"
Adam blinked in confusion for a moment. "I`m sorry?"
"This test, it's pretty nerve racking, right?"
He chuckled. "Oh yeah, it is, but we just have to do our best."
"I`m Selena by the way. Selena Carrillo." She greeted.
"Adam Rayner, nice to meet you."
"Everyone, please make your way to your assigned gate. The test will begin shortly." One of the staff members announced.
"Looks like it's time to get this thing started." Selena said.
Adam nodded. "Yeah, we better head to our gates. Good luck!"
"Gracias!" She said as she walked away.
Adam stood in front of his assigned gate, taking in a few deep breaths before he started. "No need to be nervous Adam. Just rely on your quirk and you will be okay." He told himself.
"Remember, once the gate opens up you just have to reach the finish line." The staff member said to him."
He nodded.
"3, 2, 1, go!"
The gate flew open and Adam ran straight through. Once he was in, Adam noticed many people walking around him. He stopped running for a moment and was confused as to why these people looked like normal civilians. The course seemed to be modeled to look like a regular city, which he found strange. The civilians around Adam, didn't seem to notice him whatsoever. He looked around and also noticed that he could see the other end of the course.
"What the heck is going here." Adam thought for a moment.
He walked up to one of the random people. "Excuse me, but would you mind telling me what this is."
The older male looked at him quizzically. "I`m sorry, but I don't know what you mean."
Adam pointed around him. "This, this place doesn't look like an obstacle course to me."
Before the male could answer him, a huge explosion occurred just a few feet from where they were standing. Adam looked in the direction of the explosion and noticed the civilians running away in fear. Within the resulting explosion, emerged three humanoid robots. Those robots began to rampage throughout the makeshift city, destroying everything in their path.
Adam stood his ground as everybody else ran away. "What the hell are those things!? Is this part of the test?"
His eyes then went wide as he remembered what Mr. Rowland had said. "The physical portion will require you to go through an obstacle course. You will start from point A and make your way to point B. Your score will depend on how quickly you finish the course."
"I get it now; these robots must be the obstacles. That means I have to stop them as fast as I can before they do any more damage. Time to kick it into high gear."
Adam took a deep breath as he activated his quirk. He felt the energy surge through his body as he ran towards the danger. The first robot in his path was chasing after some of the civilians, he jumped high into the air and came crashing down towards the humanoid machine. The robot noticed his presence as it stopped chasing the civilians and looked up towards Adam. It stretched it arms out to grab him, but Adam reacted by kicking the robot, which destroyed it in one hit.
The pieces of the machine scattered out onto the street as Adam landed safely. He shook off the pain from his leg. "The hell are these things made of?" He wondered.
Suddenly, a voice in the distance caught his attention. "Someone help, I`m stuck! Please anybody!"
Adam ran towards the direction of the voice and found a young woman whose legs were stuck between some rubble. "Are you okay?"
"I can't move my leg. I`m not sure if its broken." She said.
"Can you feel any pain?"
She shook her head. "No."
"That's not a good sign." He thought to himself.
Tears began to swell up in her eyes. "Please, help me."
Adam looked to her and smiled. "Don't worry, I`ll get you out of here and then take you to an ambulance."
Before Adam was able to help the young woman, the last two robots appeared before him. He took on a fighting stance, ready to protect the civilian. The two machines scanned Adam as well as the trapped woman. "Give up the civilian, hero." One of the robots said.
"That's not going to happen." He replied.
"Very well, then you will be exterminated."
Adam gritted his teeth. "Bring it."
One of the robots suddenly rushed Adam and caught him by surprise. Before he could react, the machine punched him right in the gut as it delivered a follow up blow to his face; sending him flying.
Adam tumbled across the road until he came to a stop. "Shit, that hurt." He said as he picked himself up. He watched as the two robots made their way to the civilian.
"Oh no you don't!" Adam yelled, using his quirk to rush to her aid.
Both robots made to strike the female with their fists. Adam made it just in time as he caught both mechanical fists in his hands. He then pushed one robot away as he grabbed the other by its arm and spun it around until he threw it with great force. The female watched carefully as her rescuer did his best to protect her. The robots shook off his attack as they both opened a component in their shoulder that revealed a shoulder mounted gun.
Adam was taken aback for a moment. "Seriously guns? That's a little extreme."
He was ignored as the advanced robots began firing. Adam wasted no time in running in a different direction in order to avoid the female from being hit. He continued to run until he came upon a pile of debris that he used for cover. "Man, these sure are tough, but what else would you expect from a school like USAHA. I`ll just have to wait for the right opening."
His chance came when the robots finally ran out of ammo; retracting their shoulder mounted guns. Adam took another deep breath as he jumped out of his cover and ran towards them. All he needed was to get one good hit and he would be able to destroy them. Good thing he still had plenty of energy left, at least for now.
Meanwhile, in another building located across the school, stood an older woman in a room filled with many display screens. She was of average height with crimson colored hair wrapped in a bun. She wore glasses that accented her dark eyes and older facial features. She also wore a stylish gray business suit.
Her eyes followed each display screen, which showed every student that was participating in the physical exam. Vice Principle Rowland stood next to her. "So, what do you think Amanda? There seems to be some prospective students this year." He said.
The woman known as Amanda did not answer her colleague. She merely continued to watch each monitor carefully, she was good at that sort of thing. Her eyes wandered until they came upon one screen that displayed Adam fighting off the robots while protecting the civilian. She noticed something about him that intrigued her. "Monitor 50, arena 7, gate 5. Who is that?" She asked.
One of the staff members looked up the student's information. "His name is…. Adam Rayner ma`am."
"Put a star next to him. I want to know his results when he is finished." She said.
"Possible candidate?" Rowland asked.
She simply nodded in reply.
He smirked. "Great, just nine more to go."
Amanda continued to watch intently; she has been doing this for a long time so she knew what to look for in a hero. Leading the next generation of heroes was her job and she took it seriously. Every year she found a few students that she believed were worthy of the teachings of USAHA. This year though had brought her a feeling of great joy. This year was going to be something extraordinary.
Adam had continued to dodge the attacks of the robots for the last five minutes. He also had to keep them from coming after the young woman trapped in the rubble, so it was difficult to destroy them while protecting her at the same time. His energy was beginning to run low, so he had to find a way to stop his mechanical adversaries fast.
"If I don't figure out a way to end this soon, my energy will run out and I`ll be useless." Adam told himself.
The robots transformed their arms into cannons as they took aim at Adam and shot at him. He barely managed to dodge the attacks, but it had also given him an idea. "This may use up all of my energy, but if I manage to hit them, I can end this fight."
Adam began to focus the remaining of his energy into his right arm and ran straight forward. The robots did not hesitate and charged towards him as well. As he was running, Adam took aim with his right arm and released a ball of energy that was blindingly fast. His resulting attack hit the robot's dead on and the explosion left nothing but a few mechanical parts lying on the road.
Adam fell to one knee as breathed heavily. "Holy crap, I forgot how much that takes out of me."
Even though he was completely drained, Adam mustered the strength to get back up and make his way back to the trapped woman. Once he found her, he kneeled down to her. "Alright, now that those things are gone, lets see if we can get this off of you."
"How are you going to do that? You're all battered up." She said.
He chuckled. "I think I can manage to round up some energy to get you out. It doesn't take much."
Adam focused some energy to build up what little strength he had left. He then began to lift the giant piece of rubble off of the woman. Adam could feel the strain on his body, he was pushing past his limit and it felt like he was going to pass out at any moment. With one final push, he managed to get the rubble off of the woman and picked her up in his arms.
"You did it. That was amazing!" She said.
He smiled. "All in a day's work. Now, how about we get out of here?"
She nodded and Adam began to carry her towards the end of the course. Once he crossed through the gate, a staff member who was waiting pressed the button on their stopwatch. "17 minutes and 40 seconds. Not bad, you can take your injured civilian over there to the ambulance." He pointed out.
He nodded. "Right, thanks."
The ambulance waited as Adam brought the woman to them. He carried her all the way in and placed her down on the stretcher. "Good job." She said.
He blinked in confusion. "Huh?"
She smiled. "Good job on this exam. You're definitely going to get a great evaluation from me."
"Oh, right. Thanks." Adam said. He had completely forgotten that he was taking an exam and only now just realized that the civilians were actors.
He smiled and waved goodbye to the woman as he exited the ambulance. Adam then took a seat at the break area that was built for the students, where staff members offered him a bottle of water. Adam took it without question and chugged it down, he took a moment to look around and noticed the rest of the students. Some of them looked way more beat up than he did and some looked completely disappointed. He wondered what happened to them based on the look of their faces, this couldn't have been easy for everybody. He also wondered if Selena had any trouble, he tried to find her but it was too crowded.
"Everyone if I could please get your attention." One male staff member said.
All the students gathered around and listened to what he was going to announce. "It seems that everyone has finished their physical. You will receive your letters of acceptance or rejection in the mail within the week. You are all free to go."
Many of the students murmured with each other about whether they would get accepted. Adam simply gave a deep sigh; it was a long day and he was ready to go home. He shoved his hands in his pockets and headed back towards the locker rooms to grab his things. The first step was now done, now all he had to do was wait and see if he succeeded.
4 days later
After a grueling physical exam, Adam had been waiting patiently for the results of his exam. The days seemed long, not knowing when his letter was going to arrive. Finally, one afternoon, his patience was about to pay off. He had been watching a baseball game with his father, when his mom called out to him. "Adam! Adam, honey come here!" She said.
"Yeah mom, what`s up?" He asked.
"You have a letter in the mail for you." She replied.
Adam`s eyes went wide as he hopped off the couch and rushed to the door. "Are you serious!"
"Yeah, look the letter is right here." She said as she handed her son the letter.
Adam took the letter without hesitation and held it for a moment before opening it. The envelope was stamped with the school's logo and looked regal in design. In this day and age, letters were quite rare, but USAHA liked to keep it traditional and still sent out physical notifications.
Adam`s dad walked up. "What's the holdup son? The game is getting good."
"Adam just received his letter from USAHA." His wife told him.
"Oh! Well what did it say?"
"I-I haven't opened it yet." Adam replied.
His father put a hand on his shoulder. "Well what are you waiting for?"
"What if I don't get accepted?"
His mom smiled. "You won't know until you open it. Besides, your father and I will support you know matter what the answer is."
Adam nodded and took a deep breath. He opened the envelope, took out the letter and unfolded it as he began to read it out loud.
Dear Mr. Rayner,
We thank you for your interest in our fine institution. It is with great honor and appreciation, that we would like to congratulate you on your acceptance to the United States of America Hero Academy. Your hard work and determination have paid off. In addition, due to your excellent score on the written exam and your outstanding performance on the physical exam. You are one of ten students that have been accepted to be a part of the Advanced Heroics Class. This is a great honor and we hope you take this acceptance with great admiration. In this letter, you will also find your student access card, as well as instructions on what to do next. Furthermore, make sure you create time to go pick up your uniform, it is required you wear this at all times during your tenure at USAHA. Once again, congratulations on your acceptance and we are excited to see what your future holds.
Yours truly,
Principal Amanda Reinhart
Adam stood flabbergasted for a moment before realizing that he had been accepted. His parents smiled as they embraced him in a hug.
"Oh sweetie, congratulations!" His mom said with tears swelling up in her eyes.
"I knew you would get in! Not only that, but you got accepted into their advanced heroics class! I`m so proud of you son." His dad exclaimed.
"Yeah, I can't believe it. I got in!" Adam said with an excited grin.
"This is cause for celebration! I`m going to run out to the store and buy some food for a special celebratory dinner!" His mom announced as she grabbed her purse and headed out.
Adam and his dad returned to the living room and continued to watch the baseball game. The day couldn't get any better than this. He was finally going to attend the school of his dreams and become a hero.
Later that evening, the villain whose name was Skylar was standing atop of a building facing the streets below. She watched as people headed home for the night from their long days at work or whatever useless errands they were doing. She never understood the lives of regular people, probably because she never experienced a normal childhood. The lives of normal people interested her, but it also disgusted her. These conflicted feelings were something she always fought within herself. They were feelings she wanted to destroy, but for some reason she couldn't get rid of them.
Her phone suddenly rang, bringing her our of her thoughts. "Yeah?"
"Is everything prepared for tomorrow?" The other person asked.
"Everything is good to go boss."
"Excellent, Grant is heading your way. You two have to make sure that you don't fail, we can't let our comrades down." The boss explained.
Skylar didn't answer at first, she became distracted by a mother and her son that seemed to be walking home. She looked down on them, wondering what kind of life they had that made them so happy. The boss called out to her again. "Skylar, you there?"
"I heard you. Don't worry the plan will not fail and I told you to stop calling me by that name." She scolded.
He chuckled. "I`ll call you later."
She hung up the phone without saying goodbye. Her boss irritated her sometimes, but she was loyal to him. He had a way with words, that was one of the few things she liked about him. He had a plan that she was going to execute tomorrow, a plan that would put them in the spotlight. It excited her, but for now she would go back to watching the world around her; lost in her thoughts.