Chapter 3
Round Two! Students Clash!
Arthur Harring sighed deeply, partly from guilt, partly from disappointment. He carried the limp, unconscious body of Avana Hughes back to school, who had chemical burns around her mouth and nose. Arthur glanced back, both Julian Cooper and Ash Hargrave had bruises rapidly developing on their faces, and Willow Rhodes had scorch marks burned into her clothes. The students had been more vicious than Arthur intended, or hoped for. He knew the students would take training seriously, but perhaps it was too early for them to be let loose like that.
"They still have to be ready…if the League of Villains spreads to America…my kids have to be prepared." He whispered to himself, saying the words made it real. His glasses were sliding down his nose, but his hands were full, so he tilted his head back to settle his frames back on his nose. The sun shone into Arthur's face, the wind rustling the leaves, clouds passing lazily through the sky above him. Arthur looked back once again, making sure the students stayed close. Julian and Ash were talking, smiling, and Arthur was glad no grudges were held between the two. Physical combat could ruin potential friendships, training or not. He frowned, however, when he looked at Willow. Her arms had remained crossed for the entire walk back to the school, and the anger radiated from her body with such tension Arthur could feel it. Something had happened during training that affected her more than the others, but he didn't know what just yet.
Back at the training site, Dakshi was reinforcing to the remaining students that this was only training, and they should not be trying to inflict lasting damage on each other. Dakshi was not satisfied with the nodding heads she got in response, but there was nothing further she could do at this time. Isabel Benton, Corinna Peyton, and Chichi Opeyemi walked back into the training ground so they could find new places to hide for rescue. Several minutes later, the villain team of Paul Brand, Reed Romero, and Kondou Yoshitoki entered the grounds. At the gate stood Clint Rocksteady, Sam Diaz, and Brian Kiley, who was less than optimistic of his chances in this fight.
Dakshi motioned for the exercise to begin, and the heroes ran off. Their plan was simple, evade the villains, rescue as many of the victims as possible before being spotted. Brian had no issue with this plan, he knew very little about Yoshitoki's Quirk, and Paul was the Vice President of the class for a reason. Clint and Sam felt different, their Quirks worked almost perfectly in tandem, and even though they'd never actually practiced their strategy, it was solid enough to work on the first try. That was what they hoped for, as they glanced at each other before entering the nearest building.
"Alright guys, floor by floor, call out periodically to see if one of the victims is here. After this, we'll clear another block and see if we get lucky." Clint seized control of the group quickly, which was unlike him. Clint was smart, but he would rather follow a good plan from someone else than try to make his own. In this case, however, he needed to beat Paul. He needed to prove he was more competent, and could be a better hero. Paul and Clint had butted heads on more than one occasion, with Paul questioning Clint's dedication to the studies. Clint knew Paul was right, he liked the physical activities far more than the classroom, but it lit a fire in him. He would prove Paul wrong, and he would do so by outsmarting him today.
Brian felt something wet slap his right shoulder, and the weight of it threw him off-balance. He tried to slap it away with his left hand, but was met with a grainy, thick feeling. He looked up, and shouted in panic. The ceiling was melting. Brian looked to his left. The walls were collapsing, a wet goo replacing the solid concrete. Even the windows warped and bent as the building slowly fell around them.
"Guys, we gotta get out of here now!" Sam and Clint had noticed as well, and Clint grabbed both of his teammates by the arms. Clint knelt down, feeling the muscles in his legs contract and contort. His Quirk was simple, it made him strong and it made him fast, and he was going through that wall. Like cannon fire, his legs exploded out from under him, and Sam and Brian flapped helplessly behind Clint as he plowed straight through the decaying wall of the building they were in. As they began to freefall, Clint pulled Brian to his chest, and tossed Sam towards the ground. Sam quickly focused his Quirk to his stomach and back, bouncing gently on the ground while his teammates bounced gently off of him. Sam Diaz was made of rubber, and he was very glad Clint could think quickly like he did.
While they were waiting for the heroes, Paul Brand talked at a rapid pace, "Alright, Yoshitoki, you can control the ground and stuff, so we need you to cover any escape they try to make. Reed, you're the most important one here, I need you to get behind cover, and focus on them. Tell me their future as much as you can. Shout out any details you see, so we can head them off and win this quickly. They're all close to mid-range fighters, and Yoshi here gives us the distance advantage. We're gonna do great guys." Paul smiled widely, his teeth glinting in the bright sunlight. Yoshitoki was impressed at Paul's ability to plan with such a limited number of Quirk users, and he saw no flaws in the plan itself.
Reed Romero hid himself carefully behind two intersecting walls. It would be difficult to see him from any approaching angle, so he sat down to focus. He pictured the faces of his opponents, and his thoughts clouded over, until all he could see was a haze. The haze cleared. and he could see Clint approaching quickly. He assumed the other two would be close behind him, but his Quirk limited him to seeing the future of only one other person at a time. Reed watched in his mind as Clint prepared to enter a building.
"We gotta reposition, two buildings down, they're going inside and climbing up floors!" Reed shouted. He kept gazing, and saw that the hero team would climb at least five floors before stopping. Paul and Yoshitoki would have plenty of time to carry out the next steps of their plan. Reed started to stand before hearing Paul's voice respond.
"You stay there! If we get cornered, we'll fall back and repeat what we just did!" Paul yelled back to Reed as he and Yoshitoki sprinted towards the location of their opponents. Yoshitoki was much faster than Paul, but he kept pace with him, knowing Paul was leading this attack. They reached the building Clint, Sam, and Brian would be in, and Paul put his hand on Yoshitoki's shoulder.
"Alright bud, I don't really know how strong your Quirk is, but it needs to be perfect. I'm gonna use my Quirk to flush them out, and I need you to do…whatever you got with your earth moving…to…you know, capture them. Like, hold them still so we can capture tape them. Is that easy enough?" Paul suddenly got flustered, he realized how demanding he was being in this exercise.
Yoshitoki smiled, "Hai." Yoshi grunted in frustration, turning his translator back on. "You are correct, my Quirk capture easily. Quick to use, easy to hold. Capture tape ready." Paul let out another grin and a thumbs-up, before running over to the building and placing both hands on the side of the wall. Yoshitoki's eyes grew wide as the building started to melt from the ground up. The entire molecular structure of the building changed, once solid concrete being reduced to nothing but grey mud. After several seconds, part of the wall on the fifth floor blew away, spraying debris everywhere. Yoshitoki crouched, and placed his hands on the grass, crisp and healthy underneath his fingers. He waited until Sam, the largest of the group, hit the ground. Clint and Brian bounced away, and Yoshitoki struck. Sam was instantly sucked into a sinkhole, disappearing beneath the earth. Yoshitoki turned his attention to Clint, the next biggest threat. Before he was able to pull him under, Clint rocketed into the air, clearing at least a hundred feet between him and his enemies, landing hard on a distant balcony.
Clint didn't know where Sam had gone, but whatever happened, the new student did it. He knew Reed had to be calling out their movements, but Clint couldn't see him from where he was. Paul was responsible for melting their cover. Clint suddenly slapped himself in the leg, he had left Brian down there by himself. He didn't have a combat Quirk, and Clint cursed himself for reacting so selfishly.
Brian landed on the ground hard after ricocheting off of Sam. By the time he looked up, he was alone, staring at Paul and the new kid. Brian raised both hands, and rolled his eyes. This was exactly what he imagined would happen, and he blamed Teo Canseco for chickening out of this. It wasn't supposed to be his fight, but here he was.
"You got me. I quit." Yoshitoki wrapped both of Brian's hands in capture tape, and Brian started walking back to the entrance, shaking his head in frustration. Yoshitoki and Paul glanced up at Clint, who was currently out of their reach on top of a balcony. Yoshitoki sucked in a deep breath, shaking out his wrists before clapping his hands together sharply. A tremor moved through the ground, spreading like lightning and striking the base of the building Clint was in repeatedly. The windows blew out, one at a time, glass flying through the air haphazardly. Several shards struck Paul in the face, but slid off without causing damage, Paul's Quirk saving him from any harm by turning the jagged projectiles to liquid.
Yoshitoki suddenly felt his ankles tighten, as if a demon had come out of the ground to surprise him. He looked down, and was suddenly pulled into the earth, with only his head remaining above the dirt. He looked around, as much as he could, to see what had happened. A rubbery, worm-like object emerged in front of him, stretching five feet and six inches into the air, and as it was exposed to the rich sunlight, expanded fully until it became Sam Diaz. Once Sam was free, he cracked his neck, trying to release some of the lingering pressure from being so far underground. Yoshitoki was once again impressed by this American class of heroes, they were resourceful and didn't often panic under pressure. Yoshitoki spread his fingers, and the earth parted like water, releasing his body and leaving Yoshitoki to stare directly into the eyes of Sam.
As a building began to collapse on Clint for the second time today, he held on to one of the metal railings to keep himself from being thrown off the balcony. Clint was at very little risk, he only needed to jump back down to safety, but that wasn't good enough. He needed to take out Paul, and he had the high ground and angle to do it perfectly. His Quirk fired through his legs and his right arm, and as the rubble he stood on began falling with greater speed, he launched himself towards Paul Brand. He'd end this, and prove he was better. Paul watched as Yoshitoki took the building down, then smiled as Sam revealed he was okay, and as Yoshitoki quickly escaped from Sam's trap. Paul realized Yoshitoki would fit in with this class better than he expected. A fist ended Paul's thoughts quickly, crashing into his jaw and sending him spiraling into the street.
"Oh shit." The words were out of Clint's mouth exactly as his punch landed. He watched with his mouth open as Paul's body skidded across the road. Clint ran towards Paul, guilt flowing through him, keeping his body moving like a rushing river over rocks. He cradled Paul's head, and he could see his jaw was broken, blood falling from his lips. Clint cursed again, and set Paul's head down. He had to get Dakshi over here, Paul needed a nurse. Suddenly Clint felt a tug on his hands. He looked down, and realized he'd been caught. Paul had his capture tape out, and his jaw hung limply off of his face. Even so, Paul raised one hand shakily, giving Clint a thumbs-up.
Sam saw Clint move from the corner of his eye, they grew wider as he saw Paul take a hard right hook to the face. As Clint ran towards Paul's body, Sam realized it was just himself and Yoshitoki. This wasn't a fight he could win, but Yoshitoki couldn't catch him easily, he would just stretch out of any traps he was caught in. Sam pulled his arms close to his body, and launched them. His arms were his best ability, able to stretch farther than any other part of him, while retaining regular power. If you were punched at fifty feet, it would feel the same as a point-blank shot to the chest. Sam thought if he could keep Yoshitoki's hands busy, he could stop any Quirk use from the new kid.
Yoshitoki didn't expect rocket arms from Sam, but it didn't matter. At this range, the fight was over. Yoshitoki ducked the first punch from the right, and turned his own right palm towards Sam. A short burst of sonic waves launched from his fingers, piercing Sam's eardrums. Yoshitoki didn't have enough power in this move to cause permanent damage, but he knew how much having your brain rattled took a toll. Sam's arms retracted immediately to cover his ears, and Yoshitoki sprung forward, extending his left hand out to touch the back of Sam's neck. A sonic burst into the brain stem, and Sam blacked out instantly. This was Yoshitoki's win condition to all fights, a move that disrupted the nervous system and prevented his opponent from fighting back for several minutes. Yoshitoki took out his capture tape, and finished the exercise. He couldn't carry Sam back himself, but Clint could. Yoshitoki turned around to see Clint and Paul, who looked much worse for wear now.
"I cannot carry, much heavy. You carry Sam? I get Reed." Clint nodded silently, pale and clammy. Paul clapped a hand on Clint's shoulder, trying to tell him it was okay, but Clint shook it off, picking up Sam and beginning the walk back to the entrance. Yoshitoki started to jog to where they left Reed, who was already walking towards them. Reed had seen the whole thing, and was clearly uncomfortable. Reed waved at Yoshitoki with a weak smile, and they all returned to Dakshi. They knew they were in as much trouble as their other classmates.
"RESCUE TEAM, PLEASE RETURN TO THE ENTRANCE. THE EXERCISE IS OVER. VILLAIN TEAM IS VICTORIOUS." Dakshi Basu stepped away from the intercom, and glared furiously at the students in front of her. "I told you, all of you, that this was only training, and what did you do? The only reason none of you are getting punished immediately is because this was Arthur's stupid idea, and I'm making it his job to discipline you. This is unacceptable. The only thing you kids did better is that less of you are hurt. Unacceptable. Get back to class. Paul, nurse's office." Dakshi stormed off. Everyone except Yoshitoki had seen this attitude before, Dakshi did it out of compassion for the safety of her students, but Yoshitoki was terrified of this infuriated warrior woman. Clint, Sam, Brian, Yoshitoki, and Reed walked back to class, heads hung in shame. Paul headed to the nurse's office, blood splattering gently on the grass as he held his jaw in place. Standing behind them, Dakshi Basu wiped the angry tears from her eyes, and called Arthur on her cellphone to have a very stern talk.