It was the next day, Peter had managed to get up earlier, and by having everything prepared the night before, he was ahead of schedule. But since he had to go to the infirmary before the first class anyway, it made sense to do so.
What the boy didn't expect, however, was the huge number of reporters crowded at the main entrance. By this point, Tony Stark's new job as a teacher became public knowledge. And now everybody wanted to know what was happening.
"Hey, you there!" Said the reporter at the front. She was very beautiful with golden hair, slightly tanned skin, and a thin, delicate face. She was wearing a women's suit without a tie and holding a microphone into Peter's face. "Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair," she said. "Could you tell me what Iron Man's classes are like?"
"Me? Oh, uh..." Peter struggled to find a way out. "Why are you asking me? He's landing right over there."
He pointed in another direction. Shockingly, everyone looks that way as Peter quickly ran off before they notice.
"SorryIhaveanappointmentbye!" He yelled back as he went towards the front doors. I wonder if the others had to deal with these guys?
"Can you tell us what the Symbol of Hope is like as a teacher?" Christine asked a girl with auburn hair and a red bow on her head
"H-how is he?" Wanda was put off by the sudden invasion of privacy, but replied. "Um, his armor looks... well polished?"
"What do you think of Iron Man as a teacher?" She later asked a pair of blondes who tried to enter.
"It made me recognize the opportunity I have to be in such a good place, with teachers so skilled in my quest to become a great hero," Danny said, happy to be able to share his thoughts.
"In addition to his dignity and character, along with his comical side, it's certainly a unique opportunity. Learning how to be one of the best directly from the best in the world..."
But what Danny failed to recognize was how bored the reporters were with his monologue. They didn't expect so many words, and from someone who didn't add any gossip about Number 1 Hero. Even Gwen slept standing next to her friend, snoring loudly and drooling.
"Excuse me, can you tell us about Iron Man..." The reporter paused for a moment when she recognized the boy she was following. "Wait, aren't you that boy who was caught by the Carnage-?"
Flash stopped for a second and then whispered menacingly through his teeth, "Get... Lost..."
This was enough to unnerve the other reporters and the boy resumed his walk to the classroom.
"So, could you tell us about Iron Man, Mr. Murdock?" She asks the blind and charismatic Quirkless (or so they thought) lawyer of heroes from Hell's Kitchen. He wore his impeccable gray suit, red glasses and his blind cane, he smiles towards the reporter before answering.
"Sorry for being the devil's advocate," Matt sighed internally at the unintended pun. "But unfortunately he's not working today, so I will have to ask you to leave. We have a few famous students who don't like paparazzi that much..." He said, turning around and entering school gate.
"I need a direct word with Iron Man!" The reporter yelled at the lawyer who was walking away. I can't believe Stark can work as a superhero with all this, Matt thought, grateful to have his secret identity.
"Come on, I just need a little time!" Christine tried to follow Matt through the gate, but unfortunately she triggered the security system. It activates an audible alarm and caused the school entrance to be blocked by several metal barriers, making any access impossible.
"What the-!?" She was caught off guard by the sudden action.
"It's the M.A barrier," her cameraman said, watching his partner get stopped by the gates. "It's what we call them. I someone enters without a student ID or authorization, the security system stops them. Supposedly, there's sensors all over the school..."
- The news that the Iron Man had been hired by M.A surprised the entire country. The media went to school and caused a daily fuss. Everyone knew that, and yeah, I mean everyone... -
"Good job in yesterday's combat training," said Mr. Murddock to his class, settling into his chair. "I heard the recordings and results and I have some comments. Thompson, I can tell you're sulking. You have talent, but you have to rein in that temper."
"Yeah, yeah..." Flash replied, irritably.
"And Parker, you hurt your arms again?" The teacher looked toward where Peter was seated. "You can't count on someone being able to heal them every time. If you can control that aspect of your Quirk, you'll certainly be very capable. But you need to hurry."
"Yes sir!" Peter said with renewed confidence.
Mr. Murdock proceeded to review and give notes on each of the teams and their respective battles. "Now, let's get down to business," he said. "I'm sorry it's sudden, but today you'll have to choose a representative."
The class paused for a second, at first worried about another surprise test, but quickly turning to relief when learning they just had to do a normal school activity. And that's when the uproar began...
"I wanna be Class President! Pick me!" Screamed Amadeus.
"Me too!" Pietro raised his hand. "I'd like that too!"
Seol said, raising her hand as well.
"Heh, that's a job made for me, I accept the chal-" Sam began to speak, but was interrupted.
"I wanna be the leader!" Kamala screamed in agitation, jumping in front of Sam.
- In a normal classroom, one might think that this is just a matter of routine... -
"I'll do it! I'm the best to lead!" Shouted Flash to the class.
In your dreams, Flash, Peter thought. He had no interest in being a leader, but he'd be damned if he was gonna be bossed around by that guy, and reluctantly raised his own hand.
- ...But in a Hero Course, representing the class is a task that lets you experience what it's like to be a first class leader of a group. -
"Silence, please!" Azari yells at his class, trying to make them more civilized. "This is a task with the serious responsibility of leading others. It is not a job for anyone who simply wants to. It is a calling that needs the trust of everyone involved. If we want to use democracy to decide the true leader, we must hold an election!"
"Heh, that's rich coming from a Prince..." Flash muttered, unheard by the others.
"An election?" Asked Pietro.
"We don't really know each other that well, how are we going to trust each other, Azari?" Tandy put in, who had not taken part in the racket before.
"True, everyone will probably vote for themselves," added Amadeus.
"That is precisely why whoever receives several votes today will be considered the most suitable person." Answered Azari, turning towards Mr. Murdock. "Is that agreeable, sir?"
"Do what you think is best," said the teacher. "Just be quiet about it, we don't want to interrupt the other classes." He sat back in his chair, opens some Braille documents and began to read.
After the elections were held, the results were counted and placed on the board, from the highest to the lowest number of votes. Azari was in first with 4 votes, Ava was second with 3, Peter and Danny had 2 each and the rest had either only one vote or none at all.
"All right! Who voted for this loser!?" Flash asked furiously, pointing to Peter, since he had more votes than him. "I know he wouldn't vote for himself, so who voted for him!?"
"What? Did you seriously think someone would vote for you?" Pietro asked mockingly.
"What was that, platinum!?" Flash retorted.
A certain girl in a red bow whistled innocently at the back of the room, not quite at ease to say who she had voted for.
"Aw, I'm sorry Danny. For what it's worth, you would've made a great leader," said Gwen, turning to her friend. She knew how much he wanted a leadership role.
"It's alright Gwen, I'm fine," He replied, serenely smiling at the girl. They watched as the teacher made Azari official as Class President and Ava as Vice President.
In the cafeteria, the quartet of friends sat down to eat while they were impressed by the number of people in the place, which was much more crowded than the first day of classes;
"Where did all these people come from?" Peter asked, placing his tray on the table and sits down.
"It's because everyone in the Hero, Support and Administrative courses came together at the same place today," replied Danny, watching the people.
"No matter how good these burgers are," Gwen began, swallowing a big chunk of her sandwich. "I'm still pretty pissed with today's election result. You should've been made a representative, Danny."
"I already told you Gwen, the rest of the room already sees Azari as an authority figure," he said, looking off to the side.
The new Class President and Vice Representative were at a table discussing something and taking notes.
"Besides being more decisive, he's probably already taken leadership instruction as the Prince of Wakanda," Danny concluded.
"For what it's worth, I think you'd make a great leader too, Danny," said Wanda.
"Me too," added Peter.
"We've got two more in our anarchic group, Danny," said the blonde, grabbing his arm. "Orson will so be proud! Who knows, maybe he'll make us those fried noodles we like so much! And..." Gwen stopped when she realizes she'd said too much, quickly letting go of the boy's arm and shrinking slightly.
"'Orson'?" Peter asked, a bit confused.
"Do you call your dad by his first name, Danny?" Wanda added, now also paying attention to the conversation. "I don't think I ever heard you talk about him."
"Well, I suppose it was going to come out one way or another," Danny sighed, lifting his head to face his friends. "Have you heard of a businessman named Wendell Rand? Or his wife Heather Duncan-Rand? She was a big socialite."
"Yeah, they were the heads of a big company, but they both died about six years ago in..." Peter stopped citing information, coming to a realization.
"They were your parents..." Wanda came to the same realization about Danny by linking the last names.
"Yeah, it's a long story. Unfortunately, due to some bureaucratic oversights of the two, I was left with nothing after their death. No money, no business, nothing," the boy revealed his sad past to the two new friends.
Oddly enough, he didn't show any features of sadness, his face was a calm, as if he were telling facts not connected to him. "So I was adopted by my martial arts master, Orson Randall. My father was a big fan of this oriental tradition, so I've been training since I was a kid."
"That's where we met," Gwen said, smiling slightly and but embarrassed for having spilled the beans. "I used to take classes there too.
"He trained me all these years, especially when he discovered my Quirk: 'Chi Manipulation'," Danny stared at his hand for a moment and closer it into a fist. It glowed slightly before fading away.
"I guess he is technically my father, but he always made it clear that he was my sensei above all else. He's my biggest inspiration and one day, I want to be just like him."
"He's also the leader of the 'Rental Heroes' Agency," added Gwen. "So the desire to be a leader-"
"I see..." said Peter. "You've been through a lot Danny, in a way I can kind of relate."
Danny turned to the boy, "How so?"
"I lost my parents back when I was a kid too. And more recently, my Uncle..." Peter hesitated a moment, the memories of that night still fresh. "I admire Iron Man and I want to be as good a hero as him, but Uncle Ben is the man I want to be like."
Wanda nodded, "I never knew my father, but my mother always made sure my brother and I were cared for. I want to be the kind of hero that can give that sort of kindness and support to others."
"Jeez, do all of you have some backstory that's deep-seated in tragedy?" Gwen muttered. "I guess the writer just shoved you all together so there'd be a group with something in common..."
"That reminds me, what's your family like Gwen?" Asked Wanda.
Gwen shrugged, picking up her soda. "No idea, I was just written in as a stand-in for Tsuyu." She drank loudly through her straw as the others look on in confusion.
Danny just sighed, "You get used to it..."
"Gwen does have a point though," Peter said. "We've all been through a lot and we're still doing our best to become heroes. So from here on, I say we do our best and support each other."
"I'll second that!" Said Wanda, following the animation.
"Excelsior!" Gwen called out the school motto, raising her fist and staring off dramatically. Everyone laughs at the blonde's action and the atmosphere stabilizes in a peaceful and pleasant way, until that peace is interrupted by the sound of an alarm.
All the students in the cafeteria were static for a moment, since that was not the standard sign of the classes, and it was too early to be, until everyone heard a voice from the speakers;
"Level 3 Security Breach. All students must withdraw immediately. Level 3... "
The voice continued as most of the students got up from their seats and ran towards the nearest exit. Danny managed to get an older student's attention before he could leave. "What does 'Level 3 Security Breach mean?" He asked.
"It means someone's broken onto the school grounds!" The boy said hurriedly and with a degree of seriousness in his voice. "I've never seen anything like this in three years here! You'd better hurry up too!" And he ran off toward the exit.
- Chaos. That's the only word that could accurately describe the situation in the main corridor leading to the exit. All the students attending the school, from the first to the third year, squeezed themselves in, desperate to get to the exit of the school.
In a place where heroes were trained, an attempted attack by villains shouldn't have been strange, but that actually more rare than one would think, given the high amount of security at places like this.
Mainly because there were only 2 classes in the Heroes course. All the others were less about action: the support, management and general studies classes, along with the remaining nine classes didn't train in combat like Classes A and B. So naturally, they began to panic. -
Voices overlapped each other. "Don't push!" "I'm falling!"
"Ouch!" Wanda exclaimed as she's shoved aside by so many people. "What's going on?
"Everyone seems to be very agile during a crisis," said Danny, doing a little better thanks to his physical structure.
"Screw agile! It's a bunch of desperate- whoa!" Yelled Gwen, trying to push back the people who shoved into her.
"Whether agile or desperate, it's creating panic!" Peter manages to say before being dragged to the opposite side where his friends were.
"Peter!" Exclaimed Wanda, seeing her friend being taken off by the sea of people.
When being squeezed against the wall by the crowd, Peter tried to concentrate for a moment and leapt up to the wall, staying at a height above the sea of students. While he'd escaped the movement, Peter's next task was to figure out what was really going on.
Climbing further up the wall until he's close to the ceiling, Peter took a deep breath and remembered Uncle Ben's teachings; "It is a leap of faith...".
Thus, he was able able to stick to the ceiling and head towards the windows on the side of the corridor. He gets to the glass part and looks out in an attempt to see what was happening. Finally, he observed one of the biggest fears of any hero: a crowd of reporters.
Outside, Matthew Murdock and Deadpool were trying to stop the media from invading the school.
"Please, we just need a few minutes with Iron Man!" Yelled a reporter.
"Are you stupid?" Asked Deadpool. He thumbed over to Matt, "This guy already told you he's not here."
"I will have to ask you all to leave, this is a violation of the private space of this school," Matt tried to keep the situation under minimum control, waiting for the police to arrive to resolve the conflict without violence.
"They invaded the school grounds..." Muttered Deadpool to his co-worker. "Is there anything in your little law books that lets us hit them because of that?
"Unless you want your face in magazines as a new villain, go ahead," Matthew replied, a bit impatient and stressed about the whole situation.
"Well, I could always make sure there's no witnesses..." Deadpool considered, hands slowly moving toward his katanas.
"I was being sarcastic," Matt said sharply.
"Alright, alright..." Deadpool replied with slight disappointment, lowering his hands again.
Peter let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, relieved there was no villainous attack, just some stupid reporters. "Guys! Don't worry, it's just the media!" He tries to inform the crowd of students, but apparently it was not having any effect.
What should I do? He searched the crowd, trying to find someone, his eyes fall on a boy with a very peculiar haircut. "Azari!"
The boy l turned back. Even in the middle of so many people, he'd managed to hear someone calling his name. Looking up, he saw Peter stuck on the wall. "It's just the media!" He yelled. "We need to calm everyone down!"
Azari nodded in response and began looking around quickly, likely thinking up a plan. "Maximoff!" He called.
"Yeah?" The twins replied at the same time; Wanda being closer, and Pietro further down, almost falling beside Amadeus.
"Wanda," Azari said, preventing further confusion. "I need you to propel me to the exit sign, do you think you can do it?" He pointed above the students to the door.
"I think so, but..." She tried to say when she's knocked into by other people. "I can't keep my concentration with all this going on!"
Peter then took action. Still stuck to the wall, he climbed lower and reached out, lifting his classmate from under her armpits into the air. She yelled at the sudden movement.
"Wanda!" Peter called over the noise. She quickly realized the situation, relaxing in spite of her position hanging above the people's heads. "Do you think you can do it now?" He asked
"Y-Yes, thank you!" She smiled gratefully, a little flushed. But the girl shook her head and focused on the task at hand. Concentrating her Quirk, the red energy appeared to materialize in her hands and her eyes glowed red.
With a single movement, she covered Azari's body with the same red energy and he began to levitate, leaving the ground to a height close to where Wanda and Peter were.
The girl then pushed him toward the place that he had indicated, positioning Azari above the exit, visible to everyone and still keeping a little of her Quirk on so he didn't fall.
The boy then straightened up, turning to the crowd of students. "Listen up! Everything is fine!" He called out to the crowd, who noticed his sudden presence. He grabbed pipe from the ceiling to maintain his balance.
"It's just the media out there," he assured. "There is nothing to worry about. We are students of M.A, we have to remain calm and prove that we are the best of the best!"
This managed to calm everyone down and the students went back to their respective classes after the reporters were removed by the police. After that, the entire Class 1-A was taken back for the rest of the day. And from that moment, everyone knew that Azari would be the best Class President they could ask for.
.
.
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Barber's Chair
• Bit of a difference voting result here, with Azari being recognized as leader material from the get-go. Of course, being the son of royalty, it makes sense he was the most qualified at that moment.
