The three boys from 1-A were catching their breath while the rest of the contestants arrived at the stadium. Apart from Peter, both Flash and Robbie were irritated by their placing. The boy had managed to move from a terrible position to the first place in the last obstacle. Flash was the one most irritated by the whole situation, for obvious reasons. With the arrival of the other contestants, however, some familiar faces came and congratulated the champion.
"Peter!" Tired and a little out of breath, Wanda ran over to her classmate. Her face was sweaty and her bow was crooked on her head, but the smile on her face was huge. "You were so amazing, congratulations!!" She said enthusiastically.
"Haha, thanks!" Peter scratched the back of his head sheepishly, Wanda's expression was too cute to put into words. "Honestly, I'm just glad we're both moving onto the next round."
"Yippee-Ki-Yay, mother trucker!!" Gwen appeared out of nowhere and jumped on Peter's back, pretending he was a horse. The two students wondered if the girl's energy would ever run out, and chuckled.
"Very well done, Parker," Danny said, coming from behind. He had a slight smile and a calm face, but something seemed to be weighing him down, he was distant for some reason.
But even with the audience's celebration and the words of his own friends, Peter couldn't get out of his head the enormous luck he had with the whole situation. The piece of iron, the number of bombs in the minefield, not having to use his webs yet. But either way, he couldn't, nor did he want to, go back in time. He had passed, now it was time to move on to whatever the next activity was.
"Alright students, please get together!" Professor Frost class the students over to the platform. "The results of the race will now be displayed, your attention please..."
The holographic screen soon began to display a kind of table, with the names of students in order, from top to bottom, of those who arrived first. Several of them were using code names like Peter, while others just used their own. Peter, Flash and Robbie had taken the top three respectively.
Seol came in fourth, followed by a thin boy with neatly combed blond hair. With the rest of the list presented, it was possible to see that the entirety of the first two Heroes' Course passed. Additionally, two other students from other courses were amongst their number; the boy with heterochromatic eyes from General Studies, and the brunette girl from the Support class.
"The top 42 will participate in the next activity. The rest of you are finished for the day," the teacher said, and the other students head out of the stadium. No one was too surprised by the results, but still a little upsetting for some. "Very well, we shall now determine the next challenge."
The teacher turned back to the holographic screen, which shows the same roulette wheel from before the obstacle course. It spun through possible activities until it finally stopped at one.
"Cavalry battle!" Professor Frost announced after the title appears on the screen.
"This is a Japanese game for children, why's it one of the options?" Nico asks her colleagues, recognizing the game she had played in the traditional Japanese schools she attended during her childhood.
"Maybe they want to explore the strategic and dynamic side of the activity," considered Ava, standing beside her.
"Allow me to explain the activity to you," said the teacher, turning back to the students. "You will form teams of two to four participants, the game itself is very simple." She then explained how each team carries their 'rider', depending on the number of participants. "But we made sure to add something else; each of you received an amount of points proportional to your place in the race..."
"So it's an activity based on points, like the entrance exam. Sounds simple enough," Luke commented.
"That means each team will have a different amount of points depending on its members," Kamala added, being close to the boy.
"..." Emma knew that she'd selected smarter children from answering the difficult questions in the theoretical tests. But did they have to speak in the middle of the explanation?
"Anyway," she continued. "The number of points goes up by five, for example whoever got 42 has 5 points, and whoever got 41 has 10, and so on. And the amount of points for the first place is..."
210, basic math, Peter thought to himself. But boy was he wrong.
"...10 million!!!" The teacher announced to the participants and the audience.
10 MILLION!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Peter's jaw dropped, What do you mean 10 million points!? This was several times more than all the points of the other participants combined, it was insane! And worst part was that everyone now looked hungrily at the poor boy.
Everyone's goal had become; "We take his points and win!"
It was a strategy meant to give a chance to those further behind on the scoreboard. But the boy knew one thing above all else, that there was the price for being at the top: everyone around wants to take you down. If he wanted to become the Number 1 hero, he couldn't get away from that first taste, he had to stand and fight. He could hardly imagine how Iron Man had endured this for years.
"Okay, back to the rules," Professor Frost addressed the class again, trying to soften the murderous looks gleaming at poor Parker. "The game will have a 15 minute time limit, each rider will have a bandana with the total amount of your team's points. The objective is to steal as many bandanas as possible to increase the number of points for your team."
She displayed an image of the back of the bandana. It wasn't a knot, but a kind of lock that just by pulling it loosened easily. "The stolen bandanas must be worn on the rider's neck. That is, the more you have, the more difficult it will be to keep them. One more thing, if your bandanna is stolen, your team can keep trying until the time limit."
"It'll be a real battle," said Tandy, after hearing the new information.
"Multiple teams competing at once..." Tyrone added.
"Eh, it doesn't seem that difficult," Sam said, but after receiving threatening looks from his close classmates, he went silent.
"So if you lose in the beginning, recovering will be more difficult to lose again because of physical exhaustion and the number of targets and..." Gwen thought aloud as her arms wrapped around themselves. Danny quickly stopped her before she become a knot herself.
"You're free to use your Quirks the way you want, but purposely injure any of the students and you will be disqualified," the teacher warned, knowing the violent tendencies of certain students.
"Hmph!" Flash snorted, no longer understanding what the fun of this game would be.
"You have fifteen minutes to form your teams!" Professor Frost announced while a counter appears on the holographic screen and starts counting down.
Peter began to think about strategy and who he would choose for his team. Due to the amount of points he had, he wasn't concerned with their position in the race, only in the skills. Even so, he only really knew the powers and abilities of people of his class, so he could probably count on them.
But there was a problem, with his number of points, all everyone could see was the huge target that was now behind his back. As such, no one was looking for him to form a team, not even looking in his direction. This would be very difficult.
On the other side of the field, Flash was going through a completely opposite situation. Because he had 205 points and had such a versatile Quirk, many wanted to team up with him. But he didn't care, it wasn't a bunch of weak spots he wanted for his team, he wanted people who knew they were the best and who made effective decisions.
"Hey Thompson!" The circle opened Laura approached, a smug smile on her face and dark hair blowing as she walked up. "Reyes already has a team formed, so I came to my second option: you!"
"And what makes you think that I'd take you?" Flash rebuffed, approaching the girl. They were about the same size, but Flash was broader. He also had a smug smile, as if he thought it was all funny.
"That's where you're mistaken," she said, pulling the collar of the boy's shirt and putting their faces mere inches from each other. This would make many blush, but not these two, "I'm not asking to join your team, I'm telling you to join mine."
Flash wasn't shaken by this development, instead he smiled darkly. He'd found one of his team members.
As teams were being formed, people talked and convinced others to join their teams. But Peter faced the opposite problem. He was simply ignored by everyone else because of the huge amount of points he had. It was as if there was a huge target with 'Do you want to win? Rob me!' written on his back. He knew it would come to this, there was no hope...
"Peter!" The boy turned to find Wanda standing next to him with a big smile on her face. "What's up partner? Wanna team up?" She asks in a fun way, referring to the time they were a pair in Iron Man's class.
"Wanda! You seriously want to be on my team? Even with my insane amount of points?" He asked, hoping this wasn't a joke, but not wanting her to join without knowing all the risks involved.
"Of course!" She replied with a nod, "It's more fun and you do better working with people you like!" Wanda again makes her face smiling and with closed eyes, a slight blush to her cheeks.
"Hmmm!" The boy emits a sound, bending down slightly with his hand grabbing the left side of his chest "My heart..."
"Are you okay?" Wanda asked worriedly.
"Don't worry Peter, I'll save you!" Gwen literally appeared from out of nowhere, with Danny a little further back. She hugged Peter from behind, lifting and squeezing his abdomen as if he was choking.
"GwenGwenGWEN!!" He exclaimed, tapping the girl on the arm until she released him. He falls and bent over, coughing and breathing deep while Wanda pat him on the back, "I'm fine, I'm ok..."
"Well, I came here because we're ready to make the Peter team take off!" Gwen said, raising her and Danny's arms in victory.
"Oh wow, this is perfect!" Peter seemed to forget the pain and started to plan a strategy. "I can be the rider and detect incoming attacks with my Quirk. Danny and Gwen can stay on defense; Danny against physical and short-range attacks and Gwen deflecting the long-range attacks. And Wanda can be our wild card, able to attack or maneuver us in a pinch!"
"You're right! It's an great plan, Peter!" Exclaimed Wanda, which makes the boy blush slightly.
"J-just something off the top of my head..." he muttered.
"I like the sound of this!" Gwen said excitedly.
"It does sound like a great plan..." Danny commented, but his head looks towards the ground before speaking. "But..."
"Oh, if you didn't like it, we can rearrange it. Do you have any ideas?" Peter didn't like the expression of his friend, worried it wasn't a problem in his plan.
"The best pack is the one that competes for the hunt," Danny doesn't even wait to see their reactions, turning to face his friends again and looking Peter in the eyes.
"You want to be the best Peter, but so do I," he said. "I already considered you powerful before, but the race showed me how capable you are and how difficult it would be to overtake you. We're good friends, please never doubt that it. But if I want to reach my own best, I cannot live in your shadow, I must defeat you."
After saying these words, Danny turned his back and walked toward a trio that watched the conversation; Pietro, Seol and Robbie. Wanda's brother looked at her sympathetically. Seol looked sadly at the group, while Robbie didn't seem to display express any outward emotion.
Soon the quartet left, probably discuss their own strategy. Of the three remaining, Gwen was the most lost. Of course, she was the one who usually dragged Danny into things, but with him elsewhere, it felt strange for the girl.
"Gwen..?" Wanda looked at her friend's expression.
"I'm fine... it's just... hehe, I think I'm going to look for another group too, you know? New horizons and everything," the girl said, not looking her friends directly in the eye for a long time. At last, she looked at Peter, who just nods as she started to leave.
"Hey guys, what's up? I saw Danny leave and- EEP!" Kei approached the trio, but as soon as Gwen left the others, she picked him up and carried him under her arm, like he was a suitcase or a pet.
"Come on Kei, let's find new horizons..." Said Gwen, a bit mournfully.
"Wait, what's happening?" The boy asked, barely comprehending the situation. "I feel like I need some context, please!"
"You can go too Wanda," Peter told the girl. He didn't want to pressure her into staying with him. "Without Gwen and Danny, we don't have much chance of winning. You don't have to worry about me..."
"..." Wanda said nothing, instead she approached the boy, putting her hand on his shoulder. The boy looks up as she speaks, "We're partners, aren't we? I'm not going anywhere..."
Peter was so touched, nearly coming to tears. But he nods at the girl, who also smiled with a look of pure determination.
"Uh, excuse me?" A voice came from behind the pair. The two separate before facing the figure of the girl in the Support Class. "I didn't wanna disturb this tender moment or anything, but I came here to offer my services!" She said, extending her hand.
"Oh, hey! You're the girl in the armor from the second obstacle!" Wanda said, recognizing the girl. Peter hadn't seen her there.
"Yup!" She said, shaking first Wanda's, then Peter's hands. "Riri Williams, but you can just call me Riri."
"I'm Wanda and this is Peter," the girl replied, returning the greeting.
"So why do you want to join us?" Peter asked after shaking her hand. "Not that I'm complaining, honestly we need the help. But you don't even know us..."
"I mean, objectively speaking, I don't know anyone here, so it doesn't make much difference," she said with a shrug. "And you, with the most points, are easier to work with. You only need to focus only on defense."
"Huh, good point..." Peter said, scratching his chin. Apparently the girl was very intelligent, "Ok, you're on. What's your Quirk?"
"Um, it won't help us much, but..." Riri began, taking the metal backpack off her back and clicking on some buttons. It opens to reveal pieces of equipment inside, several resembling gray pieces of armor, very similar to those of a certain hero. "...I do have these wonderful toys."
"Oh, wow..." As a fellow science nerd and a fan of Iron Man, Peter couldn't stop drooling over the armor pieces. But something about them caught his attention, "Wait, I've seen these thrusters, aren't they the same ones from Iron Man's Mk41?"
"They are!" Riri said, proud of herself. "Mr. Stark always makes the remains of disused armor available to the support department, and I was the only one who could recognize and properly repair them."
"Amazing!" Peter replied, this got the gears in his head moving again. With Riri and Wanda, they have good offensive potential and definitely enough mobility. But they needed more defense if they were going to focus on just staying with the bandana. One person comes to his mind, perfect for the job. He turns away from the two girls.
Walking amongst the teams, he was relieved to see that no one had called him to a team yet. What's more, he wasn't even accompanied by the girl who was always by his side. Maybe she had the same idea as Danny. Peter walked over to him from behind and put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention; "I need you for my team."
"Rise and shine!" Deadpool got the attention of his partner, who seemed to have dozed off after the word was passed to Frost. But now with him awake, Deadpool resumes the commentary, "After fifteen minutes, enough time for a quickie-"
Matt muted him again. "I should've left you asleep," he muttered. "12 teams have been formed for the Cavalry Battle!"
"..." The teams with the names of the participants were transmitted to Daredevil's headset, so he manages to have an idea of the teams' conformations. "It seems we have some unusual combinations of students..."
"VERY WELL!!!" Deadpool exclaimed. "EVERYBODY GET YOUR HANDS TOGETHER, IT'S TIME FOR A 'BATTLE ROYAL' THAT ISN'T FORTNITE!!!"
In the field, the twelve teams stood outside the dirt square in the center of the arena. Everyone would be inside as soon as the activity started, and they could not leave. Once they left the barrier, they would be eliminated. Peter tied his bandana onto his head and checked in with each of his teammates.
"Everyone ready? Wanda?" He asked the girl on his left.
"Absolutely!" She said energetically, her Quirk covered some of the devices they were using.
"Riri?" He asked the girl to his right. "All set and ready for some action!" The girl replied, pressing a few buttons on her forearm and activating her equipment
"Tyrone?"He asked the last member of the group.
"You bet," he replied from the frontal position said. As Tyrone spoke, a kind of black smoke began to exude from his body, the boy had activated his Quirk.
"Then let's go!" Peter finally activates the robotic gauntlets Riri had given him.
The huge screens that transmitted images of the field to the live spectators went out and are replaced with a countdown. All the teams prepared for the impending confrontation, mentally reviewing strategies and doing some stretches. But soon, time ran out and the battle begins.
Right at the very beginning of the activity, three teams go straight for Peter's team with an obvious objective; get the 10 million points. "I figured there would be a lot of teams after us, but not this fast..." Peter commented, observing their blocked escape routes.
"They're not giving us any space to act," said Tyrone up front. "It's your call, Spider. What do we do?"
"Evasive maneuvers!" He told his team the simple code for what should be done.
"Not so fast!" The 1-B boy with ruffled blonde hair who tried to torment Flash weeks ago was a rider on his own team. And the boy who was in front (the same one who got fifth place in the race), activates his Quirk. He extends his right arm, in which they appear to be black rectangles around. Nothing seemed to happen visibly, but Peter's Spider Sense began to go off.
"What the-?" Peter suddenly starts to feel heavier, with his team's movements slower and more difficult to achieve. The boy had changed the gravity or the weight of each member. Either way, they needed to escape this situation, "Wanda!"
"On it!" The girl responds, and with a slight flick of her wrist, she sent a small burst of energy from her Quirk towards the boy. It was nothing strong enough, just meant to draw his attention.
The energy sphere flew quickly and bursts into light in front of the boy, who uses his outstretched arm to shield his eyes. This brought things back to normal.
"Now!" Peter said, and reached for a panel on his right hand, quickly pressing a red button. Suddenly, the four shoot up into the air.
Riri had divided the boots and the gauntlets between them to ensure greater balance; Peter had taken the gauntlets since he was the only one with his arms free all the time. While she and Wanda each had one rocket boot; Riri on the right foot and Wanda on the left.
With the press of Peter's button, the two boots activate and release an enormous amount of energy, with the objective of making them fly, which works quite well. The four take off, and much better than Riri had calculated, since with Wanda's power, the weight of the equipment was being supported psychically. Of course it weakened the girl a little, but they gained a lot in locomotion due to the weightlessness.
But even in the air, they weren't safe from everything. "Minoru!" Azari commanded, being the rider of the team composed of him, Groot, Luke and Nico, being the one up front.
"Leave it to me!" She said, releasing one of her hands and summoning her staff, quickly aiming at Peter's team and casting an enchantment. "Decipher the laws of nature and destroy the machines!"
The staff begins to emit small rays within, until it forms a spark at the center. What appears to be a fire dart explodes from the object and goes towards the flying team, but the girl didn't count with Peter's perception, or with Tyrone's defense.
"Tyrone!" The boy screamed to his companion when he feels something approaching through his Spider Sense. The bigger boy says nothing, just turns his head quickly to the side where the attack came from. The black smoke emanating from his body increased in quantity, forming a kind of wave that covers the side of the group, like a fluttering cloth made of pure black smoke.
When the fire dart comes in contact with it, the attack was simply swallowed by the darkness and disappears. Tyrone collects the shadows back and held on tight again, "Nicely done!"
"That was incredible!" Even in the midst of battle, Peter's nerdy side emerged. "Your powers are perfect against long-range energy attacks and defense!"
"Hey, you chose me! That Sense of yours makes for a great combo," the boy responds humbly.
"And... Landing!" Wanda announced as they return to the ground, running in the opposite direction of the previous groups. Wanda's Quirk allowing them greater mobility without a doubt.
"Quickly, after them!" Azari called to his team, but he failed to notice that something was missing.
"I am Groot!" Called the teenage trenant over to Luke.
"Dude, your bandana's gone!" Luke pointed to Azari's empty forehead. Looking around to find the culprit, even though he was distracted, one of the class 1-B riders laughed to himself as he rolled the stolen bandana on his fingers. He was a skinny boy, with white skin, emerald green eyes and black hair that went up to the chin line.
"Like stealing candy from an idiot..." he said viciously and starts to focus on another target.
"HEAVENS TO BETTY WHITE! THIS MATCH BARELY BEGAN AND IT LOOKS LIKE FARMER'S MARKET DAY!!!" Deadpool yelled into his microphone, annoying his narration partner. "TAKE CARE OF THESE BANDANAS! YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOSE! GOT STOCKED, NOW GET FU-" The last part was muted again by the hero of mothers with young children watching.
Even though they escaped the first time, Peter and his team were now in the middle of the field, and all the teams present quickly turned their attention to them, everyone invested towards the ten million team.
"MUAHAHAHA!!! TIME TO SHOW MY TRUE POWER!!!" Peter and his team look to the left only to find Kei laughing maniacally on top of his flaming tiger monster Fireclaw. There were two blondes at his side. The huge creature was advancing rapidly.
"Are they on top of Fireclaw!? Is that legal!?" Peter asked more to himself, but heard an answer from the telepathic judge.
"I'll allow it..." She didn't seem too interested in the activity. Instead, she was reading a magazine while lounging on a beach chair.
"We've gotta get out of here!" Wanda said, and tries to start walking. But a fragment coming at high speed hits her boot, making it start to vibrate and smoke. "What the-?"
As their proximity to Kei's team got closer, they recognize the two blondes beside the short boy. One was Gwen, who seemed a bit bored with the situation, was lying on Fireclaw's plush back and drew imaginary lines between the fur. The second, and launcher of the fragment was Tandy. She sat more upright with other fragments of light in her hands, throwing them.
Fortunately, Tyrone managed to be faster, throwing up the smoke screen in front of the projectiles. But instead of simply sucking them in, the blades and smoke seem to cancel out, both disappearing when they came in contact with each other.
"We need to get out of here, fast!" Tyrone said to Peter, sweat on his forehead.
"We lost a boot!" Wanda added, seeing the armor part not working.
"What do we do?" Asked Riri.
"..." Peter tried to think of something as the threat approached. His brain worked fast, until he had an idea. "Come on, let's..."
"KAWADE!!!" A voice is heard from the right and the two teams stop to observe who it was. Another equally terrifying sight was approaching; a dinosaur, which appeared to be a tyrannosaurus, but with bright red skin. On top of its head a little girl could be seen, who was probably the one who had caught Kei's attention.
Like the boy in 1-A, she also didn't look old enough to be in high school. She was still very small and with an undeveloped body. She had dark skin, thick lips and a flat nose, with curly hair in a ponytail that went up, not down. She wore large violet-framed glasses and looked defiantly at young Kei.
"Lafayette..." Kei said, gritting his teeth and forgetting about Peter and the activity.
"And that gecko too!" Added Fireclaw, in a hoarse but angry voice. It was thinner than they imagined.
"Grrrrrr!" Unlike the monster, the giant reptile didn't seem capable of speech.
"What's wrong, Kawade?" The girl teased, "Nobody wanted to be your friend and that's why you keep talking to your drawings?"
"That's rich coming from you, Lafayette! Were you really so annoying that the ET's kicked you off the moon?" The boy replied bitterly.
"How did you even get here? I didn't think they accepted animals," she said without missing a beat.
"How do you DARE to be here? You're not a super model like these two! You probably stole a beauty spot," he snapped, pointing to Tandy and Gwen. The latter was too distracted to notice, but Tandy blushed slightly at the comment.
"How about we solve this the old fashioned way?" The tiger monster asked, cracking his fingers.
"Works for me..." Kei replied, clinging tightly to his creation.
"Here we go!" The little girl said, her dinosaur only grumbles in agreement.
The two monsters went on the attack; it was possible to see the 1-B girl's likely partners. They were clinging to the dinosaur's tail for dear life, not quite sure how they got there.
"AND THINGS JUST WENT FROM MARVEL TO TOJO!! WE'VE GOT OURSELVES A GENUINE MONSTER FIGHT!!!" Deadpool excited comments, watching the clash with fascination and pulling over a bucket of popcorn.
The tiger monster being faster, descends with his right fist to the side of the dino's head, which makes it turn due to the impact. It quickly rises, snapping its jaws at the monster. Fireclaw in turn used his left arm, throwing a hook to the dino's jaw, but that left him open for a counter attack. The dinosaur maked a quick lunge and head butts into the opponent's belly, making it stagger back on impact.
"This is getting nuts!! Let's get out of here!" Peter said, going towards the red button for the thrusters.
"I'm all for that plan!" Wanda agreed, as the four are once again airborne. However with her damaged boot, they weren't as fast or as stable. But they did manage to fly high enough to escape danger, or so they had thought.
As they looked for a spot to hover, the quartet was surprised by a blonde who had literally launched himself from his group, using his tentacles and a poor Amadeus to jump that huge distance. He reached a tentacle towards the 10 million bandana.
"Don't think for a second that you're safe, Parker!!!" Flash said in his usual tone, trying to stretch a black claw to grab the bandana.
"Tyrone!" Peter didn't know what the boy could do, but he had to try. Suddenly, without his companion saying anything, everything disappeared and went dark. No sound is present and the place is cold and terrifying.
Thankfully, it only lasted for a second, and they were back. Peter could see that they'd changed from the middle of the air. He looked to the other side just to see Flash's back as he turned confusedly. It would seem they had just teleported.
But Flash wouldn't give up, he tried to turn around, still in the air and in free fall. He stretched another arm, but Peter was faster, and quickly pressed another sequence of buttons on his gauntlet and extended his arm. Small propellants emerge from the sides of the metallic glove and it fires in the direction of Flash. He perceived and blocks the projectiles, but he was pushed back and began to fall faster.
He was soon caught by a giant outstretched hand and is brought back to his team by Kamala. Amadeus and Laura catch him before he crashes.
"THIS KID THINKS HE'S BUZZ LIGHTEAR! TO INFINITY AND BEYOND! BUT IS IT ALLOWED?" Deadpool asked, looking directly at the camera.
It cuts to Emma Frost, still reading the magazine. "He never touched the ground, so I'll allow it," she said, turning a page.
Returning to the ground, after the gauntlet flew back to his fist, Peter couldn't help but notice his team's situation. Wanda's boot was damaged and Tyrone looked exhausted from overuse of his powers. They had reduced mobility and defense, they'd have to get creative going forward if they wanted to keep up.
"NOBODY IS LEAVING THIS TEAM IN PEACE!!! THEY FIND IN THE WORST POSSIBLE WAY THAT THIS IS A MADHOUSE!!!" Deadpool announced. "But now let's take a look at the scoreboard!"
The stadium screens are quickly replaced by the listing of the twelve teams, which each had the name "Team (name of the rider)" and the score of each. But one thing was interesting to note.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Deadpool couldn't believe what he saw.
"Apart from the Spider and Reyes team..." Matthew comments, listening to the scores of each team through the headset.
"THE REST OF 1-A IS SINKING FASTER THAN TITANIC!!!" Completed Deadpool.
Looking at the scoreboard, it was plain to see that apart from Peter and Reyes' teams, all the other groups made up of 1-A students had lost their bandanas. None of them had any points, not even the Flash's team had any.
The scoreboard appeared seconds after the Flash's headband was stolen. As soon as he recovered from the fall, the black-haired boy's team from 1-B quickly went to his blind spot, in a way that even Laura's keen senses had failed to sense him, and stole the team's headband.
"How closed minded 1-A is! So very tragic..." The dark-haired boy said, most to himself after picking up the bandana.
"He caught us off guard!" Laura exclaimed, noticing the theft and gritting her teeth.
"What did you say!?" Flash asked, turning angrily towards the boy.
"Oh look, a dog that barks. How adorable," the boy went on, turning his head to look at Flash with his emerald eyes. "I have no reason to stop and explain how shallow you are, but it won't hurt..."
"Huh?" Flash, although irritated, was confused by this plan.
"You see, Professor Frost announced that obstacle racing was the first activity. It was easily deduced that they would leave a portion close to 40 participants, no? Because, like it or not, people really want to see the two classes of the Heroes' Course," he said, opening his arms after having put his new bandana on his neck.
"All we had to do was stay in that zone and we'd pass, not wasting time with unnecessary displays of power and we get very useful information about the capabilities of our opponents..."
"..." Flash stopped and really analyzed the situation. Truthfully, Class 1-A was eager to show their abilities after they faced the villains, so they used their Quirks to go ahead. Now everyone saw their Quirks, and what they were able to do.
"Of course, encouraging your other friends was the job of our dear 'patriot'," the boy said, ruffling his hand through the hair of the red-haired boy with the shield Quirk. He shook his head to remove his classmate's hand.
"Naturally, that wasn't his intention," he went on. "But I took advantage of the situation. Who could blame me? They soon accepted the idea, and it was a great plan whether they wanted to or not."
"Did you plan all this together?" Flash asked, unsure if his class was close enough to do that.
"No, of course not, but adapting to certain situations is a hero's job, don't you know?" The boy went on. "You should, since you're so famous, right? Besides being the first place in the practical exam, weren't you also the boy who was captured by Carnage? You must tell me sometime, what it feels like to always be the victim..."
"..." Flash said nothing, but an extraordinary hatred for that boy arose. His way, his words, his actions, all became blinded by hatred. "Alright then... we have a change of plans. Instead of stealing Parker's headband, we're destroying these damn extras first..." Flash became surrounded by a dark aura, his opponent simply smiled as if he found it amusing.
Peter, momentarily distracted by what was happening near him, couldn't help feeling a little relieved with Flash going after the 1-B team. Several teams would be too distracted to notice him or go after his ten million points. In addition, with the strategy of the other class of the hero course being more long-term, they probably wouldn't risk everything to go after them.
"Guys, I think we have a shot..." Peter tried to raise the morale of his team, but stops when they're facing one of the last teams, one they had not encountered until that moment. It was one of the most powerful quartets, no doubt; Danny, Pietro, Seol and...
"Reyes," Peter muttered, staring down the other team through his mask. The other boy sat on top, with a determined look and the team's headband on his forehead, ready to do anything to beat him.
"I'll be taking that now," he said dryly, referring to the 10 million point bandana.
.
.
.
Barber's Chair
• Quite a few unique teams in this event, and we finally get to meet our stand-in for Mei Hatsume; Riri Williams aka Ironheart.
• A few more students from Class 1-B revealed here, in the form of Lunella Lafayette aka Moon Girl, and a certain 'patriotic redhead' who first appeared during an animated feature some time ago.
