Chapter Nine
Everything is Nothing
The first night in the dorms was weird for me. I'd never really slept anywhere extensively that wasn't my bed, any other places I did sleep were few and far between. I'd never been to summer camp because none of the local ones were accommodating for quirkless children. I'd never been to a sleepover or slept at a friend's house. I can only imagine how my mom felt, I'm not sure there's been many times I haven't been home at night. I'd given her a call before heading to bed, but I didn't mention it to her because if she was going to cry, so was I.
I was awake much later than I'm sure Brutus would have preferred that night. At about eleven o'clock that night, after most of us were in bed, I was wide awake. It's not like it was my fault, James snored like a freight train and I'd forgotten my earbuds at home. It got to the point where I eventually couldn't take it, so I quietly put a pair of pajama pants on and slipped out the door to our room, hoping not to wake anyone, especially Brutus. I wasn't sure where he slept, so I stayed quiet the whole way down to the common area. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I turned and plopped onto one of the couches.
I stayed for about fifteen minutes, just trying to get tired to the point where I could fall asleep despite James's snoring. It was extremely quiet down there, but I could hear faint talking, which at first I chalked up to someone and their roommate. The talking, however, started to get gradually louder, to the point where it sounded like an argument. I really didn't want to listen to anyone fighting, so I sucked it up and started to walk back upstairs.
The second my butt left the couch, I heard a door swing open and something hit the floor, sending me sitting right back down to pretend I was asleep. I heard two people down the hall whisper arguing, a guy and a girl. I couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but it sounded serious. And then I heard them start speed walking down the hall towards me.
"Jason!" I heard the girl whisper yell just as they rounded the corner. I popped one of my eyes open and saw Amy walking towards a guy who looked much older than anyone in our class. I recognized him as the guy from orientation that she was fighting with then, too.
Luckily they hadn't noticed me, as the hallway from the girls dorm was between me and the exit, and they hadn't looked in my direction. Jason grabbed Amy's wrist, which she tried to pull away from, but he wouldn't let her go. My heart rate sped up, worried about what might be about to happen. This felt all too familiar, and it really freaked me out.
"If I tell you to do something, you do it." Jason said sternly before letting go of her wrist and turning around to walk out the door. Amy watched as he stormed out into the parking lot, got in his car, and left. I opened my eyes and sat up as Amy turned around and saw me. She had tears running down her face and looked embarrassed that someone saw her. I hopped up from the couch as she took off down the hallway back towards her room.
"Hey, hey, hey!" I jogged after her and placed my hand on her shoulder before she got into her room, causing her to whip around and push me away. I yanked my hand away and held my hands up in front of me. "Sorry! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, go away." Amy said through her tears. I peered into her room, seeing that it was set up like two people stayed there, but it was only Amy who was here tonight.
"Are you?" I asked, worried about what just happened. "What was that-"
"I don't need anything, okay?" Amy snapped at me. "Mind your own goddamn business, will you?"
She walked briskly into her dorm and closed the door, careful not to slam it. I could hear her start crying and fall to the floor immediately.
"Okay…" I trailed off as I looked at the floor. I saw what had fallen when they left the dorm earlier, a small whiteboard that I assumed hung on the door. I bent over and gingerly picked it up, reading it. On it was Amy's signature along with Claire's, who must've been her roommate. I hung it back on the door gently. "Hey, I'm not gonna tell Brutus or anything. I don't want you to get in trouble because of… Anything."
Any cried for a few seconds before managing to choke out any words.
"Thank you." She whispered. I leaned my head on the door for a brief moment before turning around and heading back upstairs, where James was still snoring. I sucked it up and laid down, closing my eyes and trying my best to fall asleep.
Morning came before I'd realized I'd even fallen asleep. It was as if I was on autopilot, getting out of bed, showering, heading to class, and then hearing Brutus start his first lecture. I'd passed Amy on the way to class a few times, but she never looked back at me or acknowledged me existing. If I was her, I'm not sure I would acknowledge me either. I can only imagine how embarrassing it would be to have someone you barely know witness a fight with your boyfriend.
"Today we're doing combat training." Brutus leaned on his podium at the front of the class, briefly putting his head in his hands. I heard him mutter something about the lights being too bright before continuing. "If you would all so kindly look at the back of the class, we have been so graciously provided with the costumes you all requested."
Everyone got really excited and started talking amongst each other. We all turned around to look at the wall, which was adorned with eighteen pelican cases.
"Get dressed and meet me at the football field." Brutus said as he walked briskly out of the room. Everyone jumped up and started looking at the cases.
"How can we tell which is who's?" I heard someone ask.
"They have our names on them, dumbass." I heard Amy mutter.
I was the last to stand up, so mine was the last on the shelves. My last name was printed on a small metal plate that looked to be embedded in the case. The case looked beat up and scuffed, so I assumed these weren't brand new, but hand-me-downs from Imperium. I opened the case and a smile crept onto my face as I felt the suit in my hands. I quickly closed the case and raced to the boys' locker room.
Everyone was already putting their costumes on and posing, trying to look cool, but it looked really goofy. I laughed to myself and changed into my costume. When I turned in the form describing what I wanted, I felt really nervous that I'd look kinda campy, but looking at what the guys in my class got for theirs made me feel much better. Mine was actually quite minimalistic in comparison. My costume was a solid white jumpsuit with black metal armor pieces on the shoulders, knees, elbows, and shins. The armor came separate from the costume, so I had to secure it on myself. Breaking up the solid white aside from the armor was a black utility belt that I hadn't requested, but they must've included anyways, which was honestly a good call. I also had a black pair of fingerless gloves, along with a black pair of boots. They weren't steel toed as far as I could tell, so I'd need to see how well they worked, but the costume was flexible and allowed me to move well enough to fight and stretch. The only thing missing that everyone else seemed to have was a mask. I also noticed on the shoulder was a circular patch embroidered with a letter P, presumably for Pathfinder. I looked around and saw everyone else also had a patch like this on their costumes as well.
I rushed upstairs alongside a few other classmates, who I couldn't really recognize in their costumes, aside from Drew, with the wings and whatnot. We sprinted basically the entire way to the football field, where Brutus was waiting with the girls, who were already suited up and waiting on us. When we reached them, we had to wait on the rest of the guys, who took about another minute to get there. When we finally did, Brutus started his directions about what was about to happen.
"How many of you have received any formal training on fighting. Martial arts, boxing, anything like that?" Brutus asked us all. I, and a few other kids, including Ri raised our hands. Brutus looked at me and raised his eyebrows. "How many of you have actually been in a fight?"
This time, everyone raised their hands.
"Alright." Brutus clapped his hands. "Today we're doing combat training, but you know that. What's going to happen is I am going to place you into groups of two, you are then going to have the whole football field to fight each other. You're going to fight until I call it. The rest of the class and I are going to sit in the bleachers, watch, and take notes."
My heart dropped momentarily. When he said we'd be doing combat training, I imagined it would be lessons, or maybe against faux villains like in the entrance exam.
"You want us to hit each other?" Someone asked. I turned and saw it was Tanner, dressed in a white costume with golden trim and a big sun on the chest that glowed with what I'm assuming was his sunlight quirk. He had a white cape that had the same golden trim, and a golden domino mask. He, and everyone else it seemed, had the same utility belt I had, but it matched whatever their color scheme was.
"Yes." Brutus said simply. "Use your quirks as much as you want, just don't kill each other."
He then split us all into pairs. I got paired with Luca, the boy who could distribute his body mass around his body. He was a good eight inches taller than me and built like a truck. He was dressed in a black armored vest, black cargo pants with armor pads on the legs, combat boots, and had a mask around his eyes that tied at the back of his head, sort of like a Ninja Turtle. I would've laughed at the thought, but his eyes bored straight into my soul. His biceps also looked thicker than both of my arms put together, so I didn't want to piss him off before our fight.
"But what if we get hurt?" Tanner asked after we all got paired up.
"Tough luck." Brutus answered coldly. "Everyone get to the bleachers. Except you."
Brutus singled me and Luca out, keeping us on the field. I realized too late that we would be the first to fight, which made my heart sink so far into my stomach I thought I would puke it back up. I swallowed whatever fears I had and stood tall, though. I mean, I tried. I think I looked even more scared.
"These two are going to be the first to fight!" Brutus hollered to the class on the bleachers. He then turned to us. "Clean fight. Don't kill each other."
He then motioned for us to take our places, which Luca took all too eagerly on the forty-five yard line. I reluctantly went to the opposite forty-five yard line, throwing up my guard. Brutus walked back to the bleachers and took a seat with the class.
"Begin when you're ready!" Brutus yelled. Immediately, Luca took a few big lumbering steps forward and started out with a big right hook. I moved to block it, but his fist immediately broke my guard and hit me in the face with the force of what felt like a truck. The next thing I remembered was being on the ground and feeling wet. My eyes opened just enough to see my white costume now coated in red all across the chest. I tried to speak, but only blood fell from my mouth, and when I tried to stand I just fell down again. Eventually I stopped trying and just accepted my defeat.
One punch. I'm done. That was it. I didn't even get a chance to fight back. Four months of training, and it was all for nothing. All at once every doubt I'd ever heard, every insult I'd ever taken, everything came back up to the surface.
Useless.
Liability.
Worthless.
Nothing.
8-Ball was right. Deacon was right. Everyone who had ever doubted me was right. I wanted to become a hero to stop Voss, but I didn't even have enough skill to become a sidekick. As I laid there staring into the sky, splayed out like a crash test dummy, all I could think was one thing.
All men are not created equal. Even the other rejects were stronger than me.
What felt like tears started streaming down my face, but it very well could have been blood. It felt like I laid there on the grass for hours, but it could have very well been seconds.
I can't do it. My eyes slowly started to close as I started to fall asleep, but I forced myself to keep them open.
"No." I muttered to myself. I thought back to an interview I saw on TV when I was younger. The guest on the show was a hero from Japan, All Might.
"Some people are born with power greater than others, yes that is true." His booming presence was felt in my body, even through the TV. "But what matters is what you do with that power! If you have the most powerful quirk, it doesn't mean anything if you don't do anything with it. Likewise, if you're born with comparatively less power, you can still do great things! It is all dependent on what you choose to do! The heroic spirit can course through anybody, and that's what makes a true hero. Not the power, but the drive to do good!"
My mind shifted to Voss and what he was doing to my neighbor when I found her. He's done that to countless people, and no one is coming to save them. I need to be the one to stop him. I'm the only one who knows. I need to stand up. I need to get up. I need to fight. I need to become a hero. I have the drive to become a hero. That's all I need to save them.
I rolled over and groaned as I spit more blood out. I felt a hand on my shoulder as I started to push off the ground.
"Emmet, you okay?" I heard someone faintly ask. They sounded about five hundred feet away, but I knew they were right next to me. I swatted their hand away as I stumbled to my feet. My vision started to blur together into one big color, but I pushed through it and held my guard up, seeing it was Luca who asked if I was okay. "Hey, man, I really didn't mean to hit you that hard, I've never hit anyone with my full body weight before. I'm really sorry, I think you need to get to the nurse."
"I can do this all day." I replied, my words slurring together so much, it probably didn't even sound halfway intelligible. Luca gave me a half smile, making him look almost as if he didn't just nearly kill me. I tried my best to hit him with a right cross, but he easily deflected it, probably because I looked like a drunk toddler.
To my knowledge, that was the end of the fight. The next thing I knew, I was puking my guts out. After that, it was as if I teleported, because suddenly I was in a sterile, hospital-looking room. I felt fine, as if nothing had even happened to me. I sat up and saw Luca sitting next to me, alongside Ri. They were both in their hero costumes still, though not wearing their masks. Ri had on a bright red skin tight catsuit that wasn't latex, but it definitely wasn't leather either. I couldn't really discern what it was made of, but it had white accents on the sides, along with bulky bracelets that housed on them what looked like tiny arrows. There were armored plates all over it on the arms, abdomen, and legs. Even the boots seemed to be armored. On the left side of her chest was her small Imperium patch and around her waist was a white utility belt.
Luca smiled when he saw me.
"Hey, man!" He held out his hand for a handshake type thing, but I wasn't exactly sure what to do so I just tapped his hand with mine. I looked down and saw I was still wearing my costume, the blood on it having now been dried. "You're a badass for standing up after that. Believe me when I say it was a whopper."
"Where am I?" I asked, rubbing my head where Luca had hit me. It felt okay, but I wasn't sure what had even happened.
"You had a concussion, you're in Imperium's nurse's office." Ri explained, gesturing to Luca. He smiled weakly.
"I really am sorry, I put all my body weight into my fist and I shouldn't have, I've never done that before, I promise." Luca didn't seem as stoic as I first thought he was. Maybe he'd just had resting bitch face. "It was pretty cool, though."
I gave him a half smile, still not completely over what had happened. I immediately started thinking about what Brutus would have to say after I'd been knocked out in a single punch. He'd probably send me packing. It doesn't matter what kind of resolve I had, I was as good as done for if I couldn't put up a good fight.
"Brutus had Luca carry you here after you fell back to the ground and I showed up here after the lesson." Ri explained. "He also told me to tell you he needed to see you when you got back to the dorms."
There it was. That was it, I was sure that was the end of my high school career.
"He also told us to tell you that he has disaster rescue training lined up for us next month. That'll be after all the classes at Imperium have the chance to do theirs." Luca told me. I didn't see the point in him telling me. I didn't think I'd even make it to tomorrow.
After the nurse came back in to check on me, she sent me on my way. Apparently when I'd entered I'd had an awful concussion, split lip, and a fractured jaw. She'd used her quirk to heal everything in no time while I was asleep.
The three of us walked back to the dorms after that. I tried to keep my distance from Luca because after he did what he did, I was kind of still shaken up.
It was earlier in the day than I'd thought, only about three-thirty in the afternoon. About a half hour after classes ended, sure, but I thought I'd been out for much longer. When we entered the dorms, Brutus immediately handed us packets of work we'd all missed.
"Next time one of you guys gets messed up like him, only one of you is going." Brutus said to Ri, who nodded. "I need to talk to Emmet."
Luca and Ri both walked to their dorms, leaving me with Brutus. He walked me to the couches in the common area, which were weirdly empty. It was probably because no one wanted to hang out with the teacher, which was understandable. Especially when your teacher looks like the guy you'd find outside of a gas station at three in the morning.
"Emmet, how long have you been taking martial arts classes?" Brutus asked. I gulped. This was definitely it.
"Four months… Why?" I said quietly.
"Just wondering." He said. "I took a chance on you, putting you in this class."
"Why did you-" I began to talk, but he cut me off.
"I got a call from the principal of Imperium today when Luca took you to the nurse." Brutus said. Yep, this was it. "He told me… Actually, let me paint you a picture first. This school here is my baby. I gave the principal the idea for this place, I gathered the funding, I was personally responsible for getting these buildings up to code. It's my job to take kids Imperium didn't want in their school and put them in here, to take a chance on them. I put you in this school because when I was at your entrance exam, I knew you would never be enrolled at that school without a quirk. I knew that that twink in the suit was wasting your time. You gave him a talking to that no one else did. That's why I chose you. The principal told me today that someone like you shouldn't be allowed to enroll into a hero school, not even one like this."
"So you're gonna kick me out?" I asked.
"No, of course not. I told that old dude to shove it." Brutus said. For some reason it hadn't registered what he'd said for a few seconds. I was so convinced I was gone that I didn't realize I was staying. "But just because I don't agree with him doesn't mean his statements don't hold weight. You need to work ten times harder than anyone else here just to prove you aren't worthless on the battlefield, or unable to save people."
"So why did you want to talk to me?" I asked. "I know I need to work hard."
Brutus chuckled and stood up, walking to the kitchen. He retrieved a long object that I thought was a stick at first, but upon closer inspection turned out to be a bo staff. He tossed it to me and I caught it, but just barely. It had some heft to it because it was made of a heavy duty metal.
"Um… Thank you?" I said slowly. I wasn't sure what to make of this.
"You can use that to fight. I'm sure it will be much more effective than your fists." Brutus told me. "As long as you show some potential, I'm keeping you around. I saw in you what I see in every aspiring hero. You know what you want to do."
I was blown away at how well-spoken this guy was, considering how homeless he looked.
"Most teachers don't keep kids around because they have potential. They keep kids around because of what they can do right now." Brutus told me. "I believe you can become a hero. You got up after that wallop today, that's more than most people can do."
I smiled uncontrollably, unable to contain myself.
"Now go change, you're gross." Immediately his tone changed to that of a disappointed authority figure, but it didn't stop me from being happy.
I rushed to my dorm to change, briefly saying hi to James. He told me how cool it was that I got punched so hard I flew like three feet, and I showed him how cool my staff was. As soon as I got changed I went outside to start using my bo. I had no idea whatsoever how to use it, but it was exciting to own one. I'd never thought before to use a weapon, but the possibilities seemed endless now that I was going to. Ideas for a costume redesign were already flowing through my head, and the rest of the school year suddenly looked a whole lot more exciting.
But things are never as exciting as you think they're going to be.
I had a lot of ideas for how this chapter would play out exactly, but I'm happy with what I landed on, and I hope you guys are too! If you liked it, leave a follow or favorite and if you have feedback, leave a review!
