Zhu Chun Long's Story

♫ Superhero ♫



It was finally the day. Today was the day Finn Silvers would finally take his hard earned place at Paragon Academy, proving his worth to his family, and all others. Nothing will stand in his way to the top of his class like his father, and siblings before him. As with most other first year students coming to Paragon he had stayed in a hotel in Excelsior Valley the night before the first day until a dorm is assigned to his class. The room was free, paid for by the school. Though Finn did little sleeping last night, too preoccupied with thoughts of his first day.

As Finn walked to the academy gates he adjusted his bandana several times. He was actually somewhat nervous for his first day. He doesn't even know who his homeroom teacher is to be. Apparently there was a last minute change in faculty. Not that it matters to him. As he walked towards the academy he got many stares, and murmurs directed his way. Though this attention was not for him however, but for his more impressive siblings who took the liberty to escort Finn on his first, as they and their father have business to attend to with the principal.

Tommy, a hulk of a young man smacked Finn on the back, and followed with a loud laugh. "They must have really brought down their standards if they're accepting runts like you!" He teased as he forcibly put Finn in a loving headlock. Finn gave no reaction other than an unamused face. As people began staring he found his cheeks beginning to turn bright red. "Ah you're embarrassing him! It's so cute when you get all flustered!" His sister Ann smirked as she lightly pinched his cheek all while he was still in a headlock.

Finn did his best to ignore all the strange looks he got from other students. He could hear the whispering behind his back, them questioning how such a small, quiet boy could be related to these two. As they approached the security gates to get into the academy they all stopped in their tracks as a tall man with silver hair, and piercing golden eyes stood before them, their father Nicolas. The twins immediately released Finn, and the three of them stood at attention, like soldiers when their superior officer shows up. All three of them stood straight, keeping their eyes forward, and not looking their father in the eye.

"Sir." They greeted in unison. Nicolas merely glared at them with cigarette hanging in his mouth. "You two, we have business with the principal. Meet me at his office." As he spoke both Tommy, and Ann took in a deep gulp. Nicolas turned his back on his children, and began to enter the academy grounds, but not before turning his head one last time. "Finn." "Ye-yes sir?" "Don't embarrass yourself. Or the family." "Yes sir." The two coldly, and emotionlessly exchanged to one another. While as cold as that seemed, that was Nicolas' way of saying good luck.

And with that Nicolas left. Tommy ruffled Finn's hair before he followed behind. "Have a good day Cutie Pie!" Ann stated with a big smile as she pinched his cheek once more, and followed behind her brother. Finn merely groaned. Once they were gone Finn's hair began to move, putting itself back to place after Tommy messed with it. Finn approached a security guard, and pulled out of his pocket a card. The card was his student I.D, and the only way another could get through the school's thick security network. A large, invisible force-field surrounded the school, and the only way through it is by the security stations.

As Finn approached the station he held up his I.D before him, and a beam of light shot out of the invisible force-field. The beam ran it's way down Finn's body scanning him completely. Once it was done a green smiley face appeared before along with a sparkling welcome sign. Finn merely glared at it. And then a pathway opened within the force-field. Finn entered the academy grounds, gaining the first full look at the impressive, and intimidating site that was the Paragon Academy.

The school grounds were surprisingly lush, and green given the arid environment this part of Nevada was. But Finn ignored this beauty, and marched onward towards class. His classroom was Class A-4, which he promptly got too. Once inside the class he took himself a seat in the front row in the corner next to the window. Once he sat down he took out a notebook from his bag, and a pencil. He placed them on his desk, lining them parallel to one another. Other students were already in the class, most socializing with one another, something which Finn showed no interest for. And any student that tried to talk to him was sent away by an intimidating glare from his piercing golden gaze.

As the students began pouring into the classroom the bell soon rang, but no teacher in sight. Five minutes went by, and still no teacher. But at the ten minute mark noise could be heard coming from the hallway outside the classroom. And then through the door came a strange looking dog. It had green fur of different shades, a maw of sharp teeth, and no apparent eyes on it's head. It was rather short with small stubby legs, and kinda fat as it's belly nearly touched the ground. 'Oh no not him. Why'd it have to be him?' Finn thought to himself, recognizing the hound.

Many of the students began whispering to themselves about the sight. The dog sniffed the air, and released an excited yelp. It barreled towards Finn, tongue flapping in the air leaving a trail of slobber in it's wake. Once it reached Finn it excitedly hopped up and down. Finn's cheeks turned red as it jumped on, licking his face. "Stop. Bad dog." Finn lowly growled through his teeth. Finn rolled his eyes. "Brutus sidet'!" He commanded to the dog, and it began calming down, and sat directly in front of him, his tongue hanging in and out of his mouth, slobbering on the flour.

Finn let out a relieved sigh. Though his face quickly began turning redder as all eyes were on him at the moment. And then pounding began coming from out of the classroom, and the unmistakable scent of whiskey filled the room. Footsteps sounding like an earthquake approached the classroom as a huge man stood outside of the door. He was easily over seven feet tall, and in fact had to duck down to enter the doorway.

The man's clothes were tight on him, his buttoned down shirt appearing to rip at any given moment. In his hand he held a thermos where the scent of whiskey was coming from. The man took a big old swig of it, and released a thunderous belch when he was done. Some of the students began whispering about the man, them noting that he looked familiar but not able to place his face. 'Could this day get any worse?' Finn questioned himself. "Alright....*hic*....let's get this over with." He stated as he placed his thermos down on his desk, and approached the white board.

He wrote down the name Mr. Unbreakable in barely legible writing. "My name is Ron Silvers, better known as Mr. Unbreakable in case you hadn't figured that out yet. But you can just call me Mr. Unbreakable. About everyone does." Ron introduced himself. And with that Finn began to sink into his seat. "I am going to be your homeroom teacher, as well as your Quirk Theory and Applications teacher." He stated. "Since today is your first day of school it's gonna be pretty easy." He added as he pulled out a pamphlet out of his pocket.

"For today your gonna tell me your names, and demonstrate your Quirks, and then I'll be showing you to your home for the next four or so years, assuming you lot last that long." He stated. He quickly flipped through the pamphlet, and held it up. "Your principal, Captain Excelsior, had prepared a speech the teachers are supposed to recite to you. Cause god forbid the old coot learn how to operate the announcement speakers. It's a bunch of inspirational blah, and the secrets of being a true hero. And blah blah blah. I don't care. Brutus, poymat'!" Ron then tossed the pamphlet in the sir, and the dog caught it with ease despite no idea, and began chewing on it.

"Oh, that's Brutus, I'm his seeing eye human. He's one of those special animals that are born with Quirks. He can grow to be twelve stories tall. And can pretty much eat anything. Though I think that last one is just him being him." He stated as he patted him on the head. "No worries, he's harmless. He's just a big old lazy dummy aren't you boy!" He said as he scratched the back of his ear, causing Brutus to groan slightly as it was focused on eating the pamphlet. "If you are allergic, or afraid of dogs I do encourage you to suck it up, and not whine about it. Brutus here doesn't leave my side."

"Before we begin showing off your Quirks, I do have one question. Can anyone tell me what the types of Quirks are, and how they are different?" He asked the class, surveying it. "Emitter, Transformation, and Mutant. Emitter is any Quirk that is able to change the world around the user, as well as something that comes from their body, like pyrokinesis for example. Transformation is any quirk that changes the users body in some way, such as shape-shifting, or size alteration. And Mutant type is a Quirk that is always active, and quite often makes it's user appear different than a normal human. Such as having wings." Finn answered without even raising his hand.

Ron looked over towards where the answer came from, and only saw the top of Finn's hair as he sunk down in his chair. Ron's eyes narrowed in on him, and then his face lite up in joy. "FINNY!" He exclaimed in joy as he rushed over to Finn's desk. Ron yanked Finn from his seat, and held him in for a big bear hug, squishing him into his ample, and pillowy man bosom. "This is....highly inappropriate." Finn groaned as he gasped for air. "Nah it's cool! I'm your favorite uncle!" He assured him.

"The last time you hugged me you cracked three of my ribs!" He groaned. Ron rolled his eyes, and sat Finn down, and bellowed a loud laugh. "Right! This here is my nephew, Finn Silvers, son of my brother Alloy Man!" He explained as he patted Finn's head, his embarrassment growing. "Yep! Oh, and ladies this handsome devil is single! And from a long line of powerful heroes, so you know if you're into that sort of thing." He announced as he ruffled his hair, and poked at his increasingly red cheeks. His right eyebrow began to twitch in annoyance with each word. 'Someone kill me now.'

"Right, Finny your first up for show and tell!" Ron ordered him. "Sir, I would appreciate it if you referred to me by my name during class." Finn got up from his seat, dusting himself off, and regaining his cool composure. Ron merely rolled his eyes. "I'll call you whatever I damn well please...." He muttered under his breath. Finn shot him a quick glare before he returned his attention towards the class.

"As Mr. Unbreakable said, my name is Finn Silvers, and my hero name will be Dreadlocks. My Quirk allows me to control my hair, and shape it to my will." He then demonstrated by forming several rapidly moving tentacles. "That's it? That's pretty lame compared to the powerhouses your family are, Finny." A boy in the front row taunted as he tapped his pencil between his index finger, and thumb. Finn glared at the boy, and then the pencil was broken in half by a tentacle, faster than the human eye to see. "Make no mistake, my powers aren't like my siblings, my father, or my uncle. But I am still decades ahead of you, and everyone else in this class." A tentacle then formed a edge, and quickly came down on the boys desk, precisely cutting it in half, along with a few of his hairs, but leaving him unscathed.

"And he's the only one who can call me Finny." He stated coldly as he took his seat. "Oh he got ya!" Ron shouted, not really helping the situation at all. "Alright so whoever wants to go next come on up. Oh, and please try to keep the destruction to a minimum, and if your powers aren't safe for indoors let me know." He stated. "The last thing I need is to be wrote up. Another thing my bitch ex-wife to hold over my head....Oh, and that reminds me. If a she-demon hailing from Satan's butthole claims to be my ex-wife run the other direction, she feeds on the souls of the children, and the misery of others."

Angela had been one of the first students to arrive in homeroom class of A-4. There had only been to others when she entered. She claimed the spot in the first row closest to the door. She was willing to sit in the first row to show an eagerness to participate, but she felt more comfortable being close to the exit.

Once she was comfortable, she rummaged through her bag until she removed a jumbo sized bag of chocolate covered pretzels. The crinkling noise of the bag filled the room as she ripped it open, drawing the attention of the other students, but she paid them no mind, instead she stuffed three of the pretzels into her mouth, chewing greedily, her gaze fixed on the empty teacher's desk.

There was a lot of pressure weighing on today. First of all it was the very first day of her life at the Paragon Academy. That came with its own realm stress. There would be new students trying to adjust to the others, the teachers would expect them to demonstrate their quirks and make an impression. The social aspect of the academy would be different. She wasn't nearly as worried as making an impression on the other students, even if they didn't respect her by the end of the first day, there would be many times after today for her to prove she was worthy of it.

Not long after she had begun eating, more students started to file into the classroom. One that caught her attention was a boy, he marched into the room with an almost refined sense of dignity, his eyes focused forward, offering none of the other students attention. Her gaze lingered on him as he made his way to the corner seat by the window, making himself at home and withdrawing a notebook. Surely he was one of the more focused and capable students, but at the moment she couldn't tell why. She looked away to not seem awkward, focusing back on the teacher's desk.

The bell rang just as the last of the students made their way in. Still no teacher had arrived. It was nearly ten minutes after the bell had rang that an odd creature barreled in. The hair on the back of her neck pricked up, what the hell kind of thing was that? The creature made its way quickly to the boy she had noted when he entered. It seemed to know him, because it licked at him happily despite his protests. Shortly after, the boy hollered, and the creature withdrew, prompting an odd glance from the entire class. The booming footsteps focused them back on the door. A large man lumbered in, wreaking of a sour odor, something Angela didn't recognize.

He introduced himself as the teacher, Mr. Unbreakable and his Quirk dog Brutus, speaking in a slurred tone as if he were drunk. Perhaps that was associated with the smell? He rambled for a moment about ignoring the speech intended for the first day of classes, feeding the pamphlet to his dog, which made her oddly happy. She liked the dog a bit more now.

Mr. Unbreakable had barely finished wording his question, and Angela hadn't even begun to raise her hand before the boy by the window recited the answer, a droning tone that suggested he was reading from a prompter. "Some sort of wonder lad huh?" She thought, finding it rude of him to blurt out the answer, especially after the teacher reacted by announcing he new the boy, Finn Silvers, that he was his Uncle no less. Whether or not it was in a close family friend way didn't matter, this Finn was obviously more well acquainted with the academy then his appearance had suggested.

Then it was already time for the students to introduce themselves and demonstrate their quirk. Finn was the first to demonstrate. He introduced himself as Dreadlocks, and gave a brief summary of his quirk. Immediately a student made a comment, referencing Finn's family. Before anyone had a chance to react, Finn lashed out with his quirk, splitting the student's pencil, then desk, with inhuman speed.

As he made his way back to his seat, Mr. Unbreakable announced that whoever felt like going next was free to do so. Before she could think, he knees extended and she stood upright, swallowing the large portion of chewed food she had been eating, wiping the corner of her lips with her thumb.

When she made it to the front, she swiveled on her heel to face the class. "Don't worry, sir, my quirk is only unsafe indoors if I want it to be." She held her right hand on in front of her before continuing. "My quirk gives me complete control over the element of fire.." As she spoke, an ignition spark flickered in her open outstretched palm. It erupted into flame, forming a shifting ball of flame in her palm. "It does as I please.." As if acting on command, a small portion of the flame trailed across her chest, down her other arm as it extended outward, parallel to the other, the trailing flame forming an identical ball in her other palm. "I can also effect the intensity.." The two spheres suddenly surged toward the other, colliding in the middle, the once campfire like, gentle flames turned into large intense flame in between her hands resembling the fiery geyser of a blowtorch.

A moment later, the flame sputtered and dissipated, and Angela swung her hands back down to her sides. "Hero name is Nova, but you can call me Ange here in the classroom. Or Angela.." She added, shooting Mr. Unbreakable a glance. She quickly paced back to her seat, slipping back into her desk, shoving her hand into her bag of pretzels, the heat from her demonstration melting the chocolate. This caused a playful smirk before she propped the treat on her tongue, maybe today wasn't going to be so bad after all.

---

---

"Hmm...?"

Having lived in a bad part of a bad city, Damon wasn't entirely sure if this thing was supposed to be normal. Did all schools have a barrier like this, or was this place special? Who knew. A part of him wanted to see what would happen if he messed with it, but he was confident of the result -- it would end with him getting in trouble. Obviously, this was a measure to protect students from those who would wish them ill, and to tamper with it would be like prank calling the police. Needless to say, they wouldn't appreciate it one bit. Still, it was quite fancy, as far as he was concerned.

Damon was not a person too comfortable with the large crowd that he found himself in. He had not arrived early, which meant he was stuck in the sea of other "aspiring heroes", forced to listen to a cacophony of chatter while he made his way to his class. It was fairly annoying to hear essentially the same thing repeatedly within the span of a couple of minutes, but, of course, everybody was here to become a superhero that everybody else was jealous of. Even between the varying personalities of everybody, there was only so many ways you could word that. Worst yet, he was definitely sure that he would be forced to listen to it all again when his class was introducing themselves.

How... frustrating.

Oh well. There was always formalities. People like those, after all. The only thing he could really do was make sure his own introduction was as short and sweet as possible. Class was more important than dealing with other people.

Damon entered the classroom, finding it about halfway full of whom he presumed to be his new classmates. Though he was quite the Sherlock, he figured he ought to find a seat before all the good ones were taking. And so, he looked at the back row, near the window.

Taken.

Well, it was worth a shot.

Damon took a seat in the center of the front row, sure that it would provide him the best spot with which to gather information. Although he was not some poindexter who was very academically-inclined, learning the subjects at this academy would likely improve his strength, which meant that he desired to focus on it 100%. He noticed another student had decided to park himself on the same row, but wasn't interested in talking to anyone. Damon decided to spend this time retrieving a pencil and a blank notebook, an action he noticed he was unique in. From that point, he remained silent and waited for the teacher to arrive.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

After about ten minutes, something finally happened. In a completely normal sequence of events that Damon was perfectly fine with, a dog had zoomed into the classroom and decided to give one of the other students in the first row a tongue lashing. This wasn't likely to be a normal dog on account of the odd color of its fur, but the more pressing issue is why he was even here in the first place? Where was the teacher? The stench of alcohol and the appearance of a drunk man had answered that question mere moments later. Well, he was more of a beast. And at first, Damon had started to question just how good that barrier really was if some giant hobo had just entered the academy along with his pet dog.

But, as it soon turned out, it was not a hobo, but his new teacher! What an interesting fact, Vayne thought. So interesting, in fact, that Damon couldn't even handle his excitement! Or maybe he was just very, very irritated at these shenanigans? Well, either way, his face sure was twitching. Luckily, it actually managed to end after what seemed like an eternity. Would this become routine?

Damon wished he could just reach out and touch this teacher's license with his right hand.

....

....

....

"...my name is Finn Silvers, and my hero name will be Dreadlocks. My Quirk allows me to control my hair, and shape it to my will." the nephew said as he introduced himself.

His power seemed kinda boring to Damon. Hair tentacles. There was a student in his older classes that had arm whips. That seemed pretty similar, except that it was arms and whips, but the general purpose was the same, right? This guy could probably do a handstand though. Vayne might've felt sorry for that nameless kid if he wasn't such a prick to him back in grade school. But that was unimportant.

A student who had taken the seat immediately next to Damon had apparently known of Tail Iron. Like many of the jerks Damon had come to know over the years, this guy couldn't help but make a rude comment, but was met with a fierce show of hair power and a glare, along with an overconfident declaration.

"Make no mistake, my powers aren't like my siblings, my father, or my uncle. But I am still decades ahead of you, and everyone else in this class."

A desk was soon murdered in cold blood.

I wonder if everybody's introductions will bring needless harm to innocent desks?

As Damon pondered important questions about his immediate school life, two other students took the stage. The first of which was a student with red-hot hair and, if anime tropes applied, she probably had some sort of fiery personality, though that remained to be seen. She declared her power to be that of manipulating fire, a rather destructive Quirk, but nothing he hadn't already seen a variant of before. Still, that kind of power was dangerous in the right hands, so he made a mental note to keep an eye on Nova.

The third student to step up was a blonde with a noticeable accent. She demonstrated what appeared to be a type of physical immunity, or hardening of some sort by deflecting a blade with her face. On top of that, she could also glow. He hadn't seen anything like that yet, but it didn't seem like it would be too useful, though she did mention another ability: a "blast" of some sorts. Well, everyone here had to pass a test to be accepted into the academy, so there was more than he could initially see about this power.

Damon decided that he might as well get his turn finished. He promptly stood up and turned turned and faced the rest of the class, holding his bag as he did so. "My name is Damon Vayne, and my 'Hero' name will be Eraser. Before I explain the exact power of my Quirk, please be advised that there is no blocking it, nor is it possible to heal from a wound caused by it." Having not thought of a proper way to demonstrate his Quirk, Vayne seemed troubled for a second, before looking at a particular student. "If you would, please throw a knife my way as well." albeit hesitantly, the student complied and threw a blade towards Damon. In response, Vayne simply held out his right hand and allowed the blade to strike his palm. It then seemingly disappeared into his hand. In hindsight, Damon probably should have made sure that knife wasn't important to him, because now it was gone for good.

"My Quirk is the ability to delete something from existence by touching it with my right hand. Because of its nature of deletion, something only partially erased will close together and reform as if the deleted section was never there if that is possible. For example, I could erase someone's arm and it would look like they simply were born without one." he explained. For some reason, he had doubts that anybody would let him amputate them, so he refrained from attempting to demonstrate that particular trait. He decided it was best to conclude his lengthy introduction, and so sat back down at his desk. Hopefully, that was satisfactory for everyone. He purposefully did not include to mention that he could delete space, but it would at least be interesting to see the surprise on someone's face if he had a chance to use it.

“Midori, eh? I like it. It’s got a certain ring to it.”

“Sir, we need the space to work.”

“I won’t leave my wife!”

“Mr. Castle, it is standard procedure in the event that-“

“She won’t have developed a dangerous quirk at birth. I’ll bet my life on it!”

“A 5% chance is enough for the government to pass laws, Mr. Castle.”

“THERE’S NO TIME, PERRY, JUST GO!” Gina interrupted with a pained gasp. The severity of the shriek snapped the doctors into third gear, Peregrine stood stunned as the sudden rush in movement left him in the dust. “I’M A HERO, DAMNIT! I’LL BE FINE!”

“AUGH!!” Peregrine paced swiftly outside of the delivery room. What he wouldn’t do to have some soft earth or stone to grind within the hospital. The consistently sterile corridors made him feel powerless, even more so than he did in the delivery room. For once in his life, his mind processed remotely selfish thoughts. What he wouldn’t give to be in the room as his daughter as she came into the world. What he would sacrifice. Some of the thoughts even frightened Peregrine. Was his daughter such a big deal to warrant such… villainous thoughts?

He caught himself, half-ashamed, but relieved that he never voiced any of those concerns aloud. However, he suspected that if he did, the people around him would have understood that irrational thought. Fathers-to-be often acted irrational at the moment of truth. He knew that Gina was correct. She was a hero, Peregrine’s other half, and both were the strongest Toronto’s ever known… but this was not taking down the Lake Ontario Terror. The Terror was easy. The Terror was held in a prison in the hottest desert, where the moisture was perfectly lacking.

As he paced, the red-haired, seven-foot hero stole a glance out the window. Police were barely keeping a handle on the reporters and camera operators on the other side of the street. Every one of them were there for the same reason, much to Peregrine’s annoyance.

Falcon Fortress and Werewolf were the mightiest heroes in Toronto. They were local legends, whose names reached out half-way across the province, and even partially into the states across the Great Lakes. They, along with The Grizzly, Jumping Jack, The Game, Nickel Son, and Chill of the North, were some of the biggest names in Canada. Jack and Chill in particular were close friends of Peregrine’s. They were keeping an eye on Toronto whilst the two were at this… admittedly enormous moment of weakness. No-doubt Peregrine would owe those two some serious favours. He did not care, he’d pay what ever dues they would demand. His child’s smile would be worth any favour.

The police also set up a strong perimeter, with spotters and snipers in every adjacent building, and several lesser-known heroes patrolling the areas beyond. At this very moment, the hospital Peregrine stood in was the safest spot on Earth, save for anywhere All Might, or any of the other Top Four stood.

The shouting of instructions and pain did not help Peregrine relax. His legs wobbled as he bit his lip. He couldn’t bear to sit down, else his spaghetti-like legs wouldn’t allow him to stand up again. He had to move. He had to do something. That’s what heroes do. They do something when all others could not. The shouting climaxed in a savage roar that left Peregrine dumbstuck, and his throat dry. The commotion was followed by silence, broken shortly after by tiny whimpering and crying. The voice was too small and too soft to be the werewolf-esque woman. The door opened a few seconds later. Peregrine clasped both hands together. His fingers squeezed, coming close to crushing each other. “Is she…?”

“Without a quirk at birth? Yes. You can come in, Mr. Cas-” Peregrine did not hesitate. His large frame almost bowled the doctor over. His blazing red hair flipped backward from the sudden acceleration.

“She’s got your eyes, Perry,” Gina said.

Peregrine laughed, “She’s… She’s got my everything, it looks like.” She looked the spitting image of Peregrine’s old baby pictures.

“I’m glad,” Gina’s werewolf-like mouth curled into a fanged smile, “I’d hate to raise a wolf cub. You remember those ancient documentaries? Those cubs bite!”

“Thank goodness for that, eh?” Peregrine chuckled. “Aw… look at you…”

“Midori… Castle,” the doctor started as he wrote down some notes on a clipboard. “Date of birth… 1:23PM Local time. May 19th… year…”

Peregrine did not hear the rest. He was in another world as he gazed upon the closed eyes of his daughter. When they would first open later on, he would see eyes that perfectly mirrored his own.

—

“Ca-astle!” Gina called. Her double-jointed hind legs tapped padded and clawed feet lightly across the hardwood kitchen floor. Her steps silenced completely when she crossed over the living room carpeting and towards the stairs leading to the elevated platform that was Castle’s bedroom. “Ca-astle, it’s time to get up!”

The apartment seemed to have jumped right off the storyboard of the old Superman cartoon. The main room was enormously spacious with a high ceiling. Mother’s bedroom was located in a rectangular “building” within the apartment, within the large main room The kitchen and bathrooms branched off the spacious living room, leaving plenty of space where huge floor-to-ceiling windows were framed at the far end. The view of Excelsior Valley was complemented with a balcony. In a fifty-year-old city, modelling it after a Golden Age-inspired Metropolis seemed like the only reasonable thing to do. Theirs was not the only apartment of it’s kind. Rather, it was technically one of the cheaper ones. If a simple journalist like Lois Lane or Clark Kent could afford an apartment like that, Werewolf certainly could with her earnings, combined with the inheritance left behind by Peregrine.

Castle’s plant-like hair accidentally got tangled up between blankets. She did not absorb that much moonlight comparatively, so she moved with an almost drunken sway. She groaned in annoyance. “I can barely move, mom…”

“That’s what you get when you roll around, You’re not doing yourself any favours blocking the light.” Gina called.

“It’s so hot down here…” Castle complained, “This bed’s like a furnace…” She had been tossing and turning to get cool air flow in her bed, and the blanket ended up covering her hair by the time she started snoring uncomfortably.

“Well, you’ll be moving to a dormitory where you can control the temperature,” Castle’s mother’s head poked up from the bottom of the stairs as she outstretched her double-jointed hind legs, “You know what today is?”

Castle suddenly surged with adrenaline as she threw off the covers. Her large green eyes shot open, and wavered as she strained to keep them open and focused. “No! Oh no oh no- am I late?!”

“It’s today,” Gina held up a plate with bacon, eggs, and toast. “Don’t worry, you’re not late… yet.”

Castle emitted a frightened “eep” as she tripped out of bed and hurried down to meet her mother. Without skipping a beat, she immediately wrapped her root-like fingers around parts of the breakfast and wolfed them down, starting specifically with the toast. Castle did not need to eat. Her roots and hair always could manage to provide her with the nutrition her body needs. As a redundancy, and especially in the event that she found herself in consistent darkness, ordinary food would keep her alive just like any other human.

Plus, every once in a while, it was nice for her mother to treat her. It helped soften the scary image of her wolfish face in the dark. Gina laughed, “At least you inherited something from me,” she joked.

Castle looked everything unlike her mother. Fair, pale, almost green skin, matching the cuffs of leaves erupting into root-like appendages along her hands and feet, and the green hair of leaves and stems that sat atop her head. Her green eyes were exactly like her father’s. Her hair used to be a bold red just like her father’s, before her quirk developed itself. Gina did not move as Castle downed every scrap of food on the plate. The greases left on her fingers were quickly absorbed through her roots. “Thanks, mom!” Castle chimed.

“I’m actually surprised you passed, to be honest.” Gina’s voice had the softest growling undertone, unsurprising considering her physique, “I remember my entrance exam at Paragon involved fighting robots. I beat your father’s score, I remember.”

“I actually disabled a few robots using some well-placed hair clippings. Clogged up the mechanics, eh?”

“Clever. But that seems like a double-edged sword.”

“Yeah, yeah, it was all I could come up with… Anyway, most of my score came from “Rescue” points, where I helped other examinees who were getting fatigued from the fight.”

“The Rescue points.” Gina smiled, “Not many remember those are a thing.”

Yeah… myself included… “Anyway, I gotta get packed u-”

Castle only just noticed that Gina had been holding the plate with one clawed hand. The other one was holding a hand bag and a duffel bag. A backpack would not suffice for her daughter, for putting it on would prove tedious when it came to brushing her relatively heavy hair out of the way every single time. The duffel bag appeared to be packed to the brim.

“Your things are already packed,” Gina replied, “You should know- you packed them last night.”

Castle took her bags and hopped in place. The energy provided by the ever-growing morning light through the windows began to fill her reserves. She slowed down as she admitted. “First day at Paragon… I know I managed to pass in the Department of Heroics, but I’m really nervous…”

“You’ll do fine,” her mother smiled a fanged grin as she lowered herself so her face was level with her daughter’s. In the daylight, the teeth were not so bad to see. In the dark, the things that tore many a villain still frightened Castle at night. “You have a wonderful quirk, and everyone will see that- if they haven’t already.”

Part of Castle wanted this promise of greatness as a hero to be a lie, if only so that she could leave. Then she and mother could return to Toronto, to bring back the old hobby shop, back to the way things were. However, that would be a greater lie. Father was gone, and nothing can go back to the way things were. She could only go forward. The Crumbler would not wait for Castle to get strong, after all. The Crumbler had to atone.

Gina then pointed to a personal gym that had not been in the corner last night. The gym was packed in a semi-transparent box for security to easily look through. “I’ll deliver that to the dorms later today. You’ll want to train your body when you’re in your dorm room. It’d be good to cover all the basics.” A clawed hand gently brushed over Castle’s fair, skinny arm. “You’ll need to be strong in order to survive the courses.”

After a quick shower in the corner bathroom and subsequent dressing, and with a tearful and proud farewell from Gina, Castle was out of the apartment. The roots of her bare feet absorbed nutrients from the carpeted hallway floor as she made her way to the stairs, down several flights, and out the door. The elevator was confined and dark, unlike the wide open windows of the stairwell Castle loved to use. The morning sun bled through the windows, filling the girl with energy as she walked. By the time she left the apartment front door, she was entirely the opposite of when she first woke up. She was energized, and ready for the day. She ran, barefoot, up and down streets and roads, through Excelsior Valley.

The relatively new city held a shiny, spick-and-span look compared to the cliffs and dusty wastes that surrounded the location. Much like the nuclear bombs generations ago, this location served as ideal grounds for testing and developing Quirks. It was very smart of the Founder, and Principal, to set the valley as the location of a Heroics Academy. Yuuei was probably envious of this spacious, sunny, and construction-friendly location, compared to the tight quarters the Japanese school had to work with.

Her green plant hair swayed as she jogged. Her breathing was perfectly even, almost as if she were standing still. Her legs did not easily feel fatigue. So long as her hair remained in the sunlight, she could jog indefinitely. Hard sprinting, or carrying heavier objects like her duffel bag, on the other hand, was a different matter. She could only sprint for short bursts before she needed to take a breather, a normal behaviour for a fifteen-year-old girl who did not compete in sports… though now she wished that she should have.

—

Logan performed his morning routine. A long jog around a section of Excelsior Valley after basic strength training. He sweat up a storm, turning his long black locks shiny and wet with sweat. He often wiped his forehead with an arm band. His jog continued, through his heavy, yet steady panting, as his music player blasted some ancient history, “rock and roll”. His run came to an end when he arrived at the Auto-body shop. Over top of the shop was his home. Much like ancient European houses, Logan’s place was a home upstairs, and workshop downstairs. He had built the place with his bare hands… holding power tools. Many Quirk-gifted citizens laughed at his relatively slow progress.

He was a young Quirkless man, probably the only Quirkless in the entirety of the town. Much like the Quirkless, he led a humble life. He fixed cars with skill and care few Quirk-gifted souls could properly match. However, that was probably because most Quirk-gifted souls did not specifically train to repair vehicles, especially not with their flashy quirks.

As he approached the front door to his home and workshop, he noticed a five-foot girl jogging by, emitting a trail of waving roots, stalks, and leaves. He got a good look at the girl’s face, though she did not notice him. Logan was suddenly filled with puzzlement. This girl was strangely familiar.

Peregrine…? he wondered. That was impossible. Even Logan knew the Falcon Fortress was gone. No, that’s gotta his daughter. That’s right, cousin Gina moved here, Logan hummed as he unlocked the garage door and entered. Jeez, she looks just like him.

He washed up quickly in the upstairs bathroom, and began unlocking the garage doors, ready to open for business. A Quirky woman with hair made of rattling gold rings stepped out of her car. Her husband appeared to have been pushing the vehicle with what appeared to be a directional forcefield. “Hey Logan,” the man greeted. He was twice Logan’s age, but half the size. The man could project a hard light shield the size of a dinner plate. It was hardly a suitable size to block attacks from villains, but the man discovered early in life that it ignored the laws of physics. It was discovered to be a perfect quirk for pushing objects with little effort. The woman’s rings seemed to emit music, calming like wind chimes. Neither were particularly hero-worthy quirks, but they were not without use.

“Horace, Pat,” Logan returned, “Got a problem?”

“Yep. The ignition is fine now, thanks to you, but now I think we’ve got a leak.”

Logan nodded as the garage doors finished opening. “A’ight, I gotcha. You guys gonna be alright heading to work?” He asked.

“It’s a beautiful day for a walk,” Pat replied, her hair rings clanked and sparkled in the morning sun.

Logan chuckled, “Well, you have a wonderful day. I’ll figure this out, and get it fixed in a jiffy.”

“You always do, Logan!” Horace barked a laugh as he and his wife strolled off, hand-in-hand.

Logan worked the shop alone for the first several hours in the morning. After that, the student interns arrived and pretty much finished Logan’s jobs, or practiced repairs on extra parts the Quirkless man had around. He brought the car into the garage and secured it to a hydraulic elevating platform. He’d determine the source of this leak within the first minute.

“Odd… it almost looks like…” Logan ran a finger lightly over the rather obvious tiny square hole. The edges curved inward, rather than outward, like someone punctured it with a nail. Logan produced his phone and snapped a few clear photos from different angles. He imagined he’d need them if this turned out to be sabotage. Until then, Logan had a job to do. “I’m not a hero,” he muttered like some sort of mantra. He then continued work. “They’re already gone anyw…

He paused... A minute was hardly enough time to lose them. Logan closed the doors and began running in the direction Horace and Pat strolled off. At the very least, they should see the photos.

—

Paragon Academy’s front gate was open. Dozens upon dozens of students and teachers from different departments were milling to and fro across the campus. Dozens more were more than likely simple visitors, or workers on-contract. The lack of obvious, hard-core security seemed to indicate that Paragon had no worry about villain attacks. Hardly a surprise, as Excelsior Valley had more good-hearted people with powerful quirks than dust clouds swooping in from the surrounding wastes. The only one who could possibly take on the entire city area and walk away in one piece would probably be All Might himself. Perish the thought of All Might going rogue. Perish the thought.

Castle’s relaxation ended when she noticed that she and many others could pass through the gate because of a barely visible forcefield. A reader detected her school I.D., and the forcefield shifted a Castle-sized hole for her to pass through. It wasn’t long before the crowds thinned into nothingness as everyone made their way inside the campus buildings. Being a Paragon alumni, Gina would have little difficulty getting the personal gym move sorted out.

Castle produced her phone from her hand bag. She resisted the urge to play Tetris in favour of pulling up the notes she had jotted down based on her acceptance letter. Castle was to make her way to her dorm room to drop off her stuff, and then to Class A-4, the Department of Heroics. The first day of truly becoming a hero, and the rest of her life. She relished the opportunity to make her father proud, were he still breathing. She still had time to spare, even after dropping her duffel bag off at her assigned dorm room, but she still jogged up and down corridors, weaving around students and personnel of any sort.

The classroom was sterile like a classroom would be at the beginning of a semester. The desks were perfectly spaced in a grid fashion. Each and every chair and table was sturdy; none of them had warped legs. At the front, facing away from an enormous wall-spanning blackboard, the teacher’s desk sat. The teacher’s desk, unlike the maple student desks, was made of solid oak. The edges were cut into form-fitting wedges. No screws were used to fasten this desk together. Every desk shone with a fresh coat of wax with a matte polish to dull the intensity of the shine. There were no windows to be seen. On the wall opposite the side with the door, many slots seemed closed off for reasons unknown. If Castle had to guess, the slots seemed to be… compartments of some kind.

Other students were already there. Only a few were familiar from the entrance exams. Castle skipped to an empty desk near the middle and took her seat. The uniform was uncomfortable and stifling, but she would have to make do… unless this school didn’t do with uniforms like her old schools.

Hey, there’s a thought, she smiled at nothing in particular, what if my hero’s costume becomes my uniform? Oh I hope the Support Class designed something wonderful.

The teacher- a huge burly man with a pet dog and a flask on-hand entered the room. Mr. Unbreakable was not quite as tall as Falcon Fortress. The man seemed very eager to play favourites, pulling aside a boy he called “Nephew”. The boy was slightly taller, with unusually coloured hair. Castle imagined that, like her, this boy’s quirk had something to do with his hair.

Her suspicions were confirmed when the boy performed a rudimentary task to retort against another boy seated at the front, using a long “rope” of hair to crack a desk in half. Using quirks indoors? Castle pondered as she stared incredulously at the unnecessary destruction. Her hand shot up. “Sir, using our quirks indoors seems irresponsible. Shouldn’t we be demonstrating our powers outside, where we have the space to let loose?”

“Who might you be?” a student a little farther to the back asked.

“I’m Castle,” the green-haired girl replied briskly as she crossed her leaf-covered arms. “You can probably figure out my quirk.” She flicked her plant-like hair as she turned to face the student in particular. “I can’t just show it off in a classroom where nobody’s hurt, though.

Castle set her hand bag on the floor. She heard Paragon was the place Peregrine and Gina had learned to become heroes. This was nothing like she expected. She was expecting… professionals…

It was a day full of nervousness and anticipation for Chun. Flying for an entire day to the states was hopefully worth it, but this is the first time Chun has been this far away from home, with no one he knows around him. No, he corrected himself subconsciously, he had the spirits. As Long as he has their companionship, he could never be alone or helpless. In his eagerness to get to class, he disregarded the milling students, though some of them caught his eye.

Once he reached the classroom, Chun slid into the seat near the centre, next to a girl with Long golden hair. She introduced herself with a bright smile and offered him her hand, that he took without hesitation to shake it. "It's nice to meet you, Lori. My name is Chun." Lori turned away to banter with other students then, while Chun simply half heartedly summoned a table full of tiny spirits, waiting for the lesson to start. A odd looking dog bounced in then, and headed immediately for the strange, hostile boy with silver hair. It appeared to know him, and after a strict command from the boy sat down obediently. It was a cute dog. Odd looking, by all standards, but Chun found it adorable. After seeing spirits for so Long, he has somehow become numb to the level of weird things he can experience. The teacher entered next, bringing with him a strong smell of alcohol. Wrinkling his nose, he sneezed softly as he regarded the mountain of a man with curious eyes. Their first assignment, to introduce themselves and their power. It was a task that seemed easy enough, and the teacher nominated the strange boy first. They seemed to be related by blood, the boy was only becoming more and more interesting! Chun made a mental note to talk to him later.

The other student was rude of course, but his surprise is rather expected. From what Chun heard of Alloy man, he was an incredible superhero, whose strengths and durability is the envy of many. The boy however, could only control his hair. He was rather impressed by the demonstration he showed, the tentacles slicing through a table. Amazing quirks. He might be among the greatest and most talented youths from all around the world right now, and the fact excited him to no end. What even happens in the school for superheroes? Everything was awfully fresh to him. Lori turned out to glow and be neigh destructible, Damon with the power to erase anything, and Nova, whose fire manipulation abilities were amazing to say the least. A girl spoke up then after the initial destruction, claiming the irresponsibility of using quirks indoors. Well, things were going just fine, and the teacher didn't look like the most responsible one anyway. Chun wasn't the least bothered as he moved toward the front of the class.

Well. How should he go about it? "My name is Zhu Chun Long, but feel free call me Chun. My primary quirk is channeling and summoning spirits." Taking a deep breath, he pressed his fingertips together and concentrated, the markings on his forehead glowing Crimson red, no longer concealed by his hair. With a painful crack, the back of his shirt was ripped through by a row of spikes that grew suddenly from his back, golden horns forming on his head. "The one I am channeling now is Bai Ze, who is my hero namesake. Let's see..." Chun raised his foot and rested it on the ground in a deliberately light motion. The ground beneath his foot split open, cracks running thorough it as he gave the teacher a rather apologetic look. "Ah, it seems a bit too late to regret using our quirks indoors, isn't it, Castle. My apologies, Mr Unbreakable."

So much for not destroying anything. It wasn't unsafe indoors per se, simply inconvenient. Pushing the shocked looks aside or the impression eh might have given, Chun nonchalantly decided to continue with the rest of the self introductions. "From the previous demonstration, I'm strong." He smiled pleasantly, as if that was a daily occurrence. Of course, he doesn't channel Bai Ze all the time. His life would get troublesome if he had such strength day to day. "I'm fast." In a flash, he circled the classroom in less than a second, returning back to his spot calmly.

"This ability is unrestricted to only him, I can channel others as well. For example..." His form returned as a gust of wind seemed to leave him, but another transformation took its place. White ears popped up, and nine silver tails swished from his back. Raising his hand, a ball of crackling fox fire appeared in his palm, suspended in the air. "The kitsune." He commented lightly, his appearance reverting back to his normal one. "As for summoning, well." It only took a small incantation under his breath for a rabbit to appear, looking perfectly normal apart from the fact that it was currently floating around him, circling the boy. Chun reached out easily to pet it, stroking its pristine fur. "As far as channeling goes, I cannot channel two spirits at once. Summoning however, is much easier. Apart from that, I'm perfectly normal. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

♫ Yellow Flicker Beat ♫

---

"Catalina~"
A hopeful lilt to her guardians voice as the curtains were pulled back allowing the sun to flash over her closed eyes. Slowly Cat opened her eyes and sat up to see Miss Wanda ready to go in her usual robes. This petite woman who never spoke above a hushed voice, was the teacher of Combat and Weakness/Strength assessment at Paragon. One of the most respected tutors in the academy and it had been her who took Catalina in, after all no one else would be able to quell her mood swings and her Quirk as well as Miss Wanda. Catalina had never seen Wanda's Quirk but from what the other people in town say, it's unbeatable.

Catalina grudgingly got up and slipped out of her nightgown as Wanda lit her pipe again with a sweet smile. Once Cat was dressed and ready Wanda looked her over and sighed, the child's boobs were practically spilling out of that tiny bikini top she insisted to wear every day. They walked together through the town and up to Paragon.

"Catalina, I have to go to my homeroom, your teacher for that is Mr. Unbreakable, Ron Silvers. Go on up there and I'll see you for my classes later." They hugged and Cat nodded as she proceeded on. She had been here for awhile, but now this was her year to be a part of it all. She trotted up the steps and got into class late. Thankfully though it seemed Mr Silvers and his nephew were speaking and then the students began introductions.

Cat slipped into the back and took the farthest seat she could, better view in her opinion. As she then went to observing with, raucous opinions, all her classmates Quirks. The last one being a Wolf, she grinned watching it.

"Yer a dog! That's a riot!" She laughed from the back, truly amazed. She had hardly seen any Quirks but her own which in comparison to these, was most like Finn's. After the pup sat down she coughed, and Mr. Unbreakable beckoned her up.

Slowly and cooly she strode up to the front of the class, hands in her pockets. She looked over the room of her new classmates and a huge grin came onto her face.

"Yo." She said taking her hands out of her pockets and rubbing them together. "I'm Catalina Vasile, call me Viper." She said as she bit down on her thumb, causing a small ruby bead to form as she softy chanted a spell in Romanian, the tattooing on her chest and stomach lit up crimson. A bright light glowed in between her boobs as she positioned her bleeding hand over the light, a hilt slowly rose from her. She grasped it and pulled forth a sword, her smirk large and proud as she swished it in the air a few times.

"This is the serpent blade, it does many cool things, none of which I'll do here. Not safe. But. . .Yeah." She said as she slid it back into her, her boobs bouncing slightly. She folded her arms and laughed loudly. "I'm so pumped to finally let loose." She stated as she went back to her seat.

It was a generic morning. The sun was making its gradual ascent into the Nevada sky. Birds melodically chirped, denoting that the day had begun its strut yet again. But their hymns fell upon deaf ears, Ender’s to be specific, because they were already clouded by the incessant conversion of sunlight into wieldable energy propagated by the 120 acres of solar panels that comprised Excelsior Valley’s AFB Solar Two. The photovoltaic power station employed the usage of 60,000 solar panels, outfitted with top of the line sun tracking systems to supply a good chunk of the valley with power. Its main beneficiary was of course the air force base that had leased the land it currently resides in, but the two locations, albeit officially delineated, are commonly referred to as of the same element.

How did the boy arrive at an area operated and maintained by the government, one might ask? Well, it’s simple. The plant called to him. Not of its own will, but a myriad of devices in the place were crying out for a helping hand. Just imagine the looks on the guards’ faces when a fourteen year old randomly made an appearance at four o’clock in the morning. And just imagine them attempting to explain their reason for giving him access to their superiors. He was very determined to heed the dissonances’ beckonings for assistance, and once the on-site staff confirmed that they were indeed having issues in multiple loci, Ender instantly shifted gears and went to work. Under his direction all of the errors that cropped up had been remedied, and yet again the young boy, with a tool bag in one hand and a volume of manga in the other came in for the save.

As a reward, he was given the privilege of taking refuge at the power plant whenever he needed. And that’s how we got here, the day of the year many Paragon Academy students refer to as ”The Day”, usually spoken with exclamation or aspiration. Meanwhile, the young hero still in the midst of his slumber recited it with listlessness. But as soon as the analog clock located in the staff lounge four stories below displayed the numbers 6:50, Ender instantly sat up, sending the blanket flying forward. He raked the back of his head and stretched out, finally coming to the realization that he had fell asleep on one of the many main complex’s catwalks. The grated flooring wasn’t the most comfortable surface, but the boy was sufficed with his choosing. ”Why’sh it sho shunny…” He managed to sluggishly say to nobody in particular. Half-opened eyes autonomously surveyed their surroundings and came to the conclusion that all was well.

All of a sudden, his lids flew wide open, as if Ender had just watched the worst atrocity at the world’s disposal, besides axeing amazing series. ”OH MY KUUDERES I’M GOING TO BE LATE” He abruptly switched into overdrive and grabbed all of his belongings, then made his way for the showers located four floors down. At a cursory pace, Ender began his descent through the web of catwalks, but out of the blue stopped on a time. ”Wait… where’d I leave it.” Rather than trying to delve into his memories, the boy instead closed his eyes and took in all of stimulus in his vicinity. Discerning one item among over 60,000 devices was already an arduous challenge, but for the young hero, it was a process as smooth and fluent as cutting butter. After a few moments, he finally homed in on the object and directed his gaze in its direction. The Clockwork Cannon was located on the catwalk he had managed to solicit. It was probably forgotten late last night during a calibration session. Without moving a muscle, Ender took control of his weapon and levitated it above the railing. It then flew down towards him and came to a complete halt just before it was going to collide with its user. He swiftly toted the cannon by its shoulder strap and made a beeline for the showers.

”I’m heading out, will be back to help out this weekend!” Ender called into the staff lounge and was met by a chorus of acknowledgements and stay wells as a response. He had a lot of ground to cover to even get to the entrance of the power plant, and subsequently the air force base’s gate. Stamina wasn’t exactly his strong suit, but the invigorating feeling of energy coursing through jet engines was enough to get him to his destination. From there he caught a bus headed for the main city. Luckily he was the only passenger at the time, so his cannon was given its own row.

Now this is when things got difficult. Instantly the noise increased upon entering the city. As soon as he got off the bus and gave his thanks to the driver, Ender instinctively slipped on his headphones. Music was one of his main sources of energy utilized to get him through the day. Walking was already enough for the tinkerer, but now he also had to navigate his way through the flow of pedestrians. Luckily due to his foresight he had alotted enough time for him to be punctual. That was the case, until Ender found himself being drawn through the doors of a bookstore. ”Pretty sure the ib Omnibus was released recently. I should have enough time I think....”

Like a beam of light, Ender bolted out of the establishment with an expression of visible distraught clearly written on his face. ”Craaaaaaap. I bought way too much! The moe was too stronk!” Time was of the essence, and due to his inability to remain on track, he was now running against the clock. He gritted his teeth as he evaluated the current situation, and soon drew the conclusion that there was no way he would arrive on time by running. ”Well, it’s now or never! Clockwork Cannon, melee mode!” He reached behind him to press a button next to the weapon’s trigger. All sixteen clocks shifted into six o’clock position and just like that, the muzzle collapsed into a triangle. Without a moment to spare he effortlessly swung the cannon around to the ground and forced it to float. The student planted both of his feet on its exterior and used the strap in place of reins. Now the cannon had been repurposed as a means of transportation. Innovative. ”Alright players, start your engines! Aaaaaaaand, go!” The cannon jerked forward and matched the speed of the cars beside him. Since it was impossible to steer through citizens and illegal to drive on the main street, he instead sped through the small cut of asphalt between the two. Heads instead swiveled and watched in awe as the kid flew by.

It soon became evident that taking the roads wasn’t going to work either. This was probably going to have some adverse effects, but Ender was out of options. His improvised ride suddenly ascended and scaled the buildings. For a moment, the boy was entranced by the morning sun. A near collision with a flock of birds sucked him back to reality. He could already feel his stomach beginning to churn after directing the movement of the cannon for so long. ”Running...low...on...charge.”

Battery… empty.” Ender managed to croak before falling through the doorway to the classroom, promptly crushed by his weapon. Most of the members of class A-4 were already present. A majority of his classmates were immersed in their own little conversations, most revolving around fairly common topics. If he didn’t spend an extra two minutes being enchanted by the mechanics of the force field, he would have had more breathing room. But luckily the homeroom teacher had yet to make his arrival. Taking the coincidence as a gift from the game developers up above, he went from the doorway to his desk in the blink of an eye, and set his weapon against his seat. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he stretched out across his desk, lost to exhaustion.

Ender perked up when a… unique canine pawed its way into the classroom and instantly fixated itself on student with white locks. His nose picked up the all too familiar smell of alcohol lurking into the classroom. Following it was a burly man built strong enough to withstand a nuclear warhead. ”WOOOOOOOAH! FLUFFY PUPPY!!!. S+!” He thought with overflowing excitement, as displayed by his ecstatic expression. The man introduced himself as Ron Silver, preferably designated as Mr. Unbreakable, or as Ender soon found out, Finn’s uncle. The teacher held the titles of homeroom, Quirk Theory and Applications teacher. Quite a lot for a sole person to take on, but despite his name, the man was probably quite flexible.

Following their teacher’s command, Ender’s classmates began their introductions and showcased their abilities. Although the boy was captivated by each student’s unique abilities and how picky his was in contrast, his mind was mostly focusing on narrowing down compatible classmates. Perhaps the guy’s declaration rubbed him the wrong way, but the tinkerer already felt a tinge of animosity for Mr Unbreakable’s nephew. ”My protag-ometer is going off…” He thought as the next classmate began her introduction. ”Oooooooh, I like her character archetype. I’m feeling a fiery personality, a burning sense of justice.” In case it wasn’t obvious, Ender had enough foresight to deduce that Ange’s ability. The two orbs of vibrant light filled both of his eyes. She’s probably pretty capable at CQC as well as mid-range combat. Next up was Lori, who demonstrated her ability by having a fellow classmate fling a knife at her. It was then deflected by an invisible force. ”Oooooooh, a defensive player. Gonna go off on a limb here and guess she couldn’t push her ability to its fullest extent due to the complications of indoors… and us! Yay, a good samaritan!”

Now the next one was pretty scary. Damon, or as he proclaimed himself accurately, Eraser had the quirk to do as his hero name implied. After him a few other students systematically displayed their quirks, a couple even lightly criticized the instructor’s judgement. Meanwhile, Ender was practically fanboying over every character that was shown.”I think I’m gonna have a nosebleed....” Castle was pretty interesting. Every fulfilled class needed a green thumb, and she flawlessly played the part. The next student turned out to be a super duper cuddly rabbit- summoner. Ender had to intensely focus on the students as opposed to the spirit currently circling him. The boy had to hold back a squeal when the student following Chun, Esther, suddenly transformed her stature and body to emulate that of a wolf. ”...I’m seriously gonna have a nosebleed.” He murmured as he cuffed his hands over his nose. Too. Much. Fluffy. Catalina then took her spot under the spotlight, and after some plot development, brandished her blade before the whole class. After she wrapped things up, the classroom fell silent.

The boy soon realized that it was his turn and curtly stood up from his seat. Unfortunately, the back of his head set a collision course with his cannon and he collapsed back onto his seat. ”Owiiiie” He began to childishly wail while rubbing the crash site. The boy sniffled as he got back and finally delved into his introduction. ”Heyo! Pleased to meet you all, and may I say, I’m blown away by all of your quirks! Wish mine was as nifty…” He trailed off before getting back on track, perking up into his usual jollity demeanor, ”Oh, right! My name’s Ender Vesti, hero name is Voltaic, but feel free to call me by what you like!!!” The boy energetically announced with a (*≧▽≦) expression clear on his whilst waving his hands. ”My quirk’s kind of a gray zone. By definition, it’s an emitter type. Hm, lemme see… Hey, you! Student three seats down and two over, you have a calculator, right?” His jutted finger fell upon the student in mention, who was surprised that Ender even knew of this fact. He awkwardly sifted through the contents of the bag and produced his calculator. ”Alright… Ah, there we go!”

Suddenly the calculator turned on by its own free will displayed the numbers 07734. The student, already perplexed enough, turned it over and read aloud ”hELLO… Oi, do you have the ability to control calculators?!”

Ender smirked at the query, ”Close, but no combo! Nice guess tertiary character whose sole purpose is to flesh out this single panel! Anyways, to give you all the scoop, I diverted the flow of electricity to specific LEDs to create those numbers. But cool thing is, my quirk is a two-part system!” He took a moment to catch his breath before continuing on, making sure to make eye contact with his classmates, ”What I meant by gray zone is that my quirk can also be categorized as a mutant type, but its constant effect is not visible on the physical plane. I can sense, or rather “hear” electronics and the coursing of energy through them. Your cellular devices, the vending machine down the hall, the cars passing by outside of the academy. All of it is blaring at all volumes. In laymen’s terms, I have long forgotten the definition of “complete silence” after the manifestation of my quirk. But I've gotten used to it.” As if completely unaware of the gravity of his state of affairs, the boy still spoke with his iconic youthful smile. He then concluded his introduction and took his seat, wishing everybody a class year of good luck.

---

---

According to Doc. Morning is the worst time of day. Social interactions, sunlight and the largest spacious room ever known to man, outside. Usually, the time of the day doesn't affect Doc's schedule, but today and many days after are exceptions. Doc stood in front of the school gate, his eyes still adjusting to the brightness of day. Even after walking all the way from the hotel to the school, his eyes were still squinting from the sudden change of lighting.

It was no surprise that Doc was late. Not the most punctual or normal for that matter as his attire is the lab coat he sleeps, works and fights with. Doc stayed up all night dissecting a few animals he bought from the farmers market. Oh, what a terrible fate for those poor creatures, but it was for science! It's a bit of a waste that he doesn't eat the animals he has killed, but instant ramen is a food that can't be topped. Hopefully the garbage man has a field day finding animal corpses in the bins.

Doc took his place at the back of the class. He knew that no one would like to see him, but it was more-so because he doesn't want to be seen. Observation gives an edge to any scientist and the back gives a proper view of the whole class. It would seem Doc wasn't the only one running late as the teacher was nowhere to be seen. The only thing that came out of the door was an odd looking dog. Usually a creature who dons unorthodox features compared to their fellows would steal his attention, but the beast seemed to only be a different shade at the moment. Anatomy was his field while this proved to be leaning towards the genetics side. Doc watched as the dog sped towards a student, but paid no attention to the aftermath before looking straight once more.

A giant of a man followed. After Doc deducting that the teacher, he rested his head on the table. He only heard the words "the first day of school will be a breeze" before he slept through the whole speech. Doc was an a odd position. Since the screw in his head prevents him from sleeping on his side. He slept with his face pressed into the table. After a 10 minute nap, he awoke to the loud crash of a table being cut in half by a fellow student. Doc's vision was still blurred, but if his eyes were open during the introduction. He would be completely overtaken by curiosity about the structure of the tentacles' bones. The man said one more thing before other students came up. Doc didn't want to fall asleep as other interesting specimens might make an appearance.

A girl who had the power of fire was next. She conjured a fire in her palm, but it wasn't very interesting. It was a mere Emitter. The only thing he is looking for was mutants. Another girl who had control over light went by, reflecting a knife of her body, nothing special either. A boy peeked his interest, but his anatomy looked normal. His power was intriguing, but not exactly what Doc was hoping for.

A girl with roots and plants all over her body didn't give a proper introduction, but hooked Doc with her odd figure. Is her whole body a stem? How does she use her roots? Does she grow fruit or flowers? Question after question bombarded his mind. This was the inter workings of a scientist, or at least this one. Hopefully the girl didn't turn around as it would've been creepy to see a stick of a scientist looking straight at her. Doc was busy observing that he missed the next introduction.

It would seem it was an all you can eat buffet of inspection as a girl with ears on the top of her head walked up after the monk-looking individual. Does she have 2 pairs of ears? Doc's observation was cut short as the girl turned into a wolf. When something like this happens, Doc gets rather excited. How do the bones change shape without breaking or is the fur the result of a rapid increase of hormones? The only way the doctor would get his answer is through dissection, but that isn't very legal, is it?

After the wolf, a woman with a blade and a boy with the ability to do something with calculators. Doc payed little attention as he was too busy looking at his specimen. It would seem that it was his turn, but Doc only realized after 5 minutes of focused research. Doc walked up with a dull look on his face. The faster he finished this. The faster he could go back to observation.

"Greetings everyone." He would briefly wave. "My full name is Medice Bellua. The hero name is Doctor. Doc rather not talk about his quirk, so he usually writes it off as super strength. Though this academy is all about being spectacular, so he would make an exception. "I have the power to transfer energy. As I think speaking about this would be rather boring, I'll demonstrate. The tall male over there. Would you please come up? Doc pointed to a rather muscular man. The man was clearly excited to hit a skinny individual such as Doc, the man pulled back his fist and punched with as much force as he could. Doc dodged the attack and grabbed the fist, flinging him through the wall behind him by catching his leg under the man's groin area and using the combined energy of both himself and his victim. After the spectacle, he walked back to his seat and got back to his very important and very creepy observation.

Dell grabbed a seat near the back of the class, slinging his bag down under the table and slouching back into his seat. He'd chosen one nearest to the window. Dell liked the view, and he didn't want to give his seat up for the world - not even if someone asked. Especially not if someone decided to dump him out to take it for themselves, but eh. If they did that he'd throw them out of the window before they could even open their mouths to say 'we're sorry!'.

Dell grinned as the teacher introduced himself, resting his cheek against his hand as he leant forwards, looking with interest at the people who came up to reveal their quirk. First one up was a boy with prehensile hair who called himself Dreadlocks. Dell snickered at the aptness of the name, laughter lost underneath the sound of movement made by the other classmates, and settled back to enjoy the show.

This is going to be interesting!

And interesting it was. Dell didn't bother to raise his hand until after a couple more students went past after the one called Doc introduced himself. A sandy haired boy with a wide smile cheerily showed off his quirk, which was the ability to turn his body into diamond, and a girl with large multifaceted eyes revealed that she could change the lens of her eyes to get different kinds of vision - including heat vision and laserbeam eyes. After that and a guy with long legs that allowed him to control air pressure (but only with his legs), it was Dell's turn.

Finally. Dell grinned as he stood up, sauntering his way to the front of the classroom. This is going to be sweet.

"Sup, everybody!" Dell grinned at everyone, standing with his back straight and legs apart, hands in the pockets of his favourite purple hoodie. His long green hair hung loosely down to his waist, and with his confident posture and tall figure Dell was the very picture of a confident young man.

An admittedly androgynous young man with an androgynous, if slightly masculine voice. "Call me Dell!" Dell said cheerily, waving a hand. "Dell Hemstzhelm, hero name Accelerator. My ability allows me to control the vectors of anything within a certain range - around 10cm, or 4inches for you people using the American measuring scale. As for how to demonstrate my powers...." Dell's grin turned sharper. "Anyone got a knife?"

A guy with a reddish tint to his skin raised his hand, but before Dell could talk the guy raised his hands to ward him off. "Wait wait wait." he said rapidly. Dell raised an eyebrow at him. "Will this in any way result in my knife being bent out of shape, destroyed, split into two, so on and so forth?" He hunched in on himself, clutching his pocketknife tightly in his hands. "I really don't want to lose this knife."

"Hmm." Dell hummed thoughtfully, then grinned. "There's a chance that the knife could fly out of the window or impale somebody if things go wrong, but no biggie!" He reached out a hand, beckoning to the reddish boy. "Now throw it at me!"

"Uh, no thanks." The boy leaned back as if it would help him get away from Dell's request, although there was an apologetic look on his face. "I don't want to be accused of accomplice for murder and I seriously don't want to lose this knife. Sorry." A look around the classroom revealed that the other students thought the same thing.

Dell frowned. "Hmmph, fine." He huffed, rummaging inside her pocket. "Guess I'll have to use this then."

Pulling out a small round green ball, Dell proudly showed it to everyone in the classroom, displaying it on his palm for all to see. "See this ball? It's a rubber ball, pretty ordinary. Now watch."

Dell's hand didn't move. It didn't move, but the ball did - without warning, it shot towards the far end of the classroom where it hit the wall with a thud and rebounded, bouncing off multiple desks and the floor until it came to a stop on a table. The student seated there flinched away from the ball, but a few seconds after it didn't do anything but stay still the student gathered courage and gingerly poked the ball. Then held it up and squished it in her hands.

"It is a normal rubber ball," she said, amazement in her voice. She turned to Dell, who grinned back at her like the cat who caught the canary inside a pie, smile wide and proud. "What did you do?"

"Used the velocity vectors to make it bounce off the wall onto your desk." Dell said flippantly, tossing a lock of hair behind his shoulder. He grinned proudly at the whole class, slipping her hand back into her pocket. "My Quirk is Vector Change. I can control any vectors, in the short term. No matter what the original magnitude and direction was, no matter how fast or powerful it is, once its within range I can control it. Doesn't matter if its not moving - since its still moving in space, I just change it so that it moved the ball as a whole instead. Or something." Dell shrugged, grinning. "Magnification works too. I could go on and on and on about how this works, but there's still other students, right? So," Dell said, nodding at the girl holding the ball. "Throw it at me."

The girl threw the ball without hesitation. It flew towards Dell like a baseball hit by a pro baseball player determined to get a home run. Dell didn't flinch, merely grinned as the ball soared towards his face, and right before the ball hit him it flew upwards.

Literally flew upwards - it made a ninety degree angle change from heading straight towards Dell's face towards the ceiling as if it suddenly decided that the ceiling was a more interesting target. Instead of crashing into Dell's face the ball flew high up into the air with nowhere near as much force as it had originally been thrown with, nearly touching the ceiling before landing neatly in Dell's outstretched palm.

"Redirection." And deceleration but eh. Dell grinned merrily at the class, placing the ball back into his pocket. "I'm also partially invulnerable, but eh. And that's all from me for today, folks!" He gave a small bow as if he was a magician who had just finished a show, and with that Dell sauntered back to his seat, stretching his long legs out in front of him and leaning backwards to see the rest of the show and tell.

♫ Superhero ♫



Finn sat there quietly as the rest of the class came up, and showed off their name, and powers. As each one came up he wrote in his notebook their capabilities along with a ranking system, and various ideas of how to counter them. Finn was here to be the best. He took special note of a few individuals that he believed might hold a legitimate threat to him. These individuals were Accelerator, Doctor, and Radiance. These were the students that he felt could give him the most trouble in combat. While some the others might prove a challenge, he did not think of them worth making special notes.

While the introductions were going on Mr. Unbreakable sat at his desk with Brutus laying at his feet, both half asleep. Not even the loudest of Quirk demonstrations, or being directly spoken to he gave much reaction to. After the last student went up Mr. Unbreakable sat there in stillness, with some low snoring coming from him, and a nice stream on drool falling down to his desk. Many students didn't know what to make of him. After a couple of minutes the students looked towards Finn to do something about his uncle.

Finn let out a sigh, and pulled down his bandana slightly. A long lash of hair formed over his head, and with blinding speed it struck Mr. Unbreakable in his forehead with enough force to nearly knock him out of his chair. Mr. Unbreakable was finally awoken, and grabbed onto his desk to avoid falling to the ground. "Huh? What? Where am I?" Mr. Unbreakable muttered as he woke up. After a quick look around the room he rubbed his forehead. "Oh....right." He then got up from his chair, and cracked his fingers loudly. "Alright kids, I'm gonna show you to your dorms. Get your things, and follow me."

Finn quickly, and neatly put his things back in his backpack, and got out of his seat. Mr. Unbreakable grabbed his thermos, and lead the students out, with Brutus hobbling closely behind. Along the way outside the building Mr. Unbreakable kept sipping on his thermos. As they got outside he had chugged the rest of his thermos. Once it was empty he held it upside down, and began shaking it, it was bone dry. Mr. Unbreakable lot out an annoyed sigh as he crushed the metal thermos into a ball. "Brutus." He called out as he tossed the metal ball in the air only for Brutus to catch it midair, and began chomping down on the metal, eating it.

Finn let out an annoyed sigh. How could this day get any worse? He wanted to be the best by his own merit, not his family's. And now with his uncle as his teacher he wondered if the other students were thinking he was there only because of him. But he didn't let his doubt show. He kept a straight face, and his eyes forward. It was to late to worry about that now, he had to look forward.

It wasn't long before Mr. Unbreakable brought the class to what appeared to be a three story apartment building with the word Iota across the front. "Welcome to house Iota, your home for the foreseeable future." He stated as he entered inside. Inside the dorm was a large open area with a big screen television, a large couch, and two recliners to the right along with a Foosball table. And to their left was a large cafeteria with a fully stocked kitchen. "You got your common, and entertainment area over here. Only one TV, gonna have to figure out who's soaps to watch. And to my left you got your dining hall, whose gonna be run by Mrs. Gunderson over there." He stated as pointed over to a elderly looking woman, appearing to be in her late sixties or early seventies.

"She's a civie so watch the Quirk use around her." He stated as he started his way to the stairs. "This place has got three floors, the top two are where your rooms are. The second floor is for the girls, the top one is for the boys." He explained as he walked up the steps to the second floor.

"The rooms are first come first serve. I'm not assigning roommates, but just know that you are going to room with someone. Who that is is up to you. Or whoever is left." He stated. Finn sighed, and two tentacles sprouted from his head. These tentacles lifted him up above the students, and moved him ahead of the others, and up the stairs to the boy's floor. He quickly took claim of the first room he saw, and went inside. He tossed his backpack on the bed, and sat there on it, waiting for someone to come in and be his roommate, if they dared. "Yeah that. Once you guys get your rooms picked we'll move on to the next item on agenda." Mr. Unbreakable stated.

This is absolutely absurd. What kind of school just lets students almost kill each other? The morning so far made no sense to Castle. If anything, these students had already shown off their quirks during the exams. It would’ve made more sense for the teacher to give them physical tests or something in order to reveal the current limits of their quirks… or something. This show-and-tell nonsense was simply a big fat waste of everyone’s time and Castle’s. This show-and-tell was irresponsible, and also quite dangerous considering the methods these students are calling upon. Castle moved out of her chair to make her way to the hole in the wall.

The muscular student who was sent through by the Doctor clambered and stumbled back inside the classroom. He was clearly dizzy, with a bloody gash visible on the young man’s forehead. Castle grasped the young man’s arm and lay a root-like hand on the young man’s face. “Hold still,” she said kindly, “I’ll patch you up.” Senseless morning aside, she was still a hero, damnit. The students and faculty of another class stared in befuddlement through the hole from the opposite side. The teacher appeared to have a quirk that allowed them to reshape the components of the wall, basically patching the wall up as good as new. No doubt the teacher of Class A-4 would receive some harsh criticisms from the principal in the near-future.

That was out of Castle’s root-like hands, however. She kept her grip, and the young man’s wound began to heal more rapidly, to the point where the bleeding stopped, and a perfectly healthy scab was layered over top to prevent further bleeding. Castle knew she’d need more time in order to fully heal the wound, but introductions in the class were bound to end soon and everyone would need to be seated in their desks. In the meantime, she kept by his side. “Thank you…” the young man said as he wiped the excess blood with a handkerchief, “you…” he seemed to forget the girl’s name.

“It’s Castle,” the young girl replied with an easy smile and a giggle, “Aspiring hero, but that’s what we all are, eh?”

Thank goodness the teacher decided to get his stuff together. With an air of authority, he told the students that he would lead them to the dormitories.

But Castle did, in fact, drop off her duffel bag in her dorm room. She already knew where her dorm room was. It was in House Iota, as Mr. Unbreakable announced. There was a common room with a single TV. The entertainment area had foosball, tables with chairs, sofas, and a billiards table. Billiards, thank goodness. Castle loved Billiards. Living in a hobby shop allowed the young girl to understand many a game. She also knew many different accepted house rules.

Regardless, Castle knew she left her duffel bag on one of the two beds, but she never got to unpacking. She didn’t imagine Mr. Unbreakable would like her to spend this entire homeroom unpacking, so Castle simply strolled to the stairs with a spring in her step. “Hiya!” she chirped as she passed by Mrs. Gunderson.

Inside her room, her duffel bag was exactly where she left it. There was no sign that it had been tampered with. “Well, odd start, but hero schools aren’t exactly known for standard procedure…” She spoke to no one in particular. Mr. Unbreakable probably wouldn’t approve of most people unpacking, but Castle did not pack much. Only clothes and some memorabilia. A framed photo of herself, the Werewolf, and the Falcon Fortress.

Shoved into the corner was a picture of a young man. On the back, the name attributed was “Logan Wolfe”. Castle knew Logan lived here. Maybe next time she was off-campus, she’d pay her cousin a visit.

========

“Horace!” Logan called as he ran. “Pat! Horace!” The Quirkless man glanced up and down alleys as he ran. Many pedestrians gave him concerned looks.

“Something wrong, Logan?” one asked.

“Jerry, you see Horace?”

“Just a moment ago. They were taking a shortcut.” Jerry jabbed a thumb at the second alleyway ahead.

“Thanks,” Logan broke out into a sprint toward the alleyway. “Horace, I just found somethi-“

His speech cut off as he rounded the corner.

Horace was coughing up blood. The hard light shield Horace projected was cracked, and pierced effortlessly by an ancient-looking blade. Pat was trying to scream, but a slab of ice completely covered her face. Through the transluscent freeze, the woman’s face was turning blue. She was trying to slap the rings, cause some sort of noise. The rings were frozen in place. There was no sound coming. Soon enough, the arms went limp at her sides.

Logan’s feet felt glued to the ground. His eyes met the masked and heavily clothed individual. He then eyed the blade. Something was terribly familiar about it.

The figure’s head jerked around, having just noticed Logan the witness. “Oh shit.” Logan took a step back. “Oh shit oh shit oh shit!” The quirkless man turned tail and ran. “HELP! SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE! SOMEONE CALL A HERO!” Logan burst out of the alleyway, eyes wide and quivering. He crossed the street, passing honking cars. Pedestrians shrieked at the man who was flipping out.

As it turned out, the killer did not give chase. As soon as the police and some heroes assigned to Excelsior arrived, they found nothing but the murder victims. One officer with a sharp teeth quirk offered Logan a hot coffee. “Can you tell us what happened?” His voice rumbled like tremors.

“Yeah, of course,” Logan replied. He was not unnerved by the harsh voice. The officer was, in fact, a kind-hearted man. “Horace and Pat, they dropped their car off at my shop. Soon after they left, I found the problem with their vehicle.” His hands shook as he fumbled with his phone. “I snapped a couple pics. The nature of the damage looked like sabotage. I then ran after them to tell them… but by the time I got there…” Logan put his head in a calloused hand. “I didn’t get a good look at the guy- He was covered with lots of layers- but he had this sword…”

“A sword?”

“Yeah, Horace could project hard light, but the sword cut through his shield,” Logan replied, “I could’ve sworn I saw that sword before…”

“From another murder?”

“Yeah…” Logan knew this for certain. The sword was undeniably ancient and unique in it’s design. A serpentine, flesh-coloured blade with a stone-like texture. It almost looked like it was forged out of a dismembered limb. “At least, I saw photos from the reports. It was at Perry’s… I mean, the Falcon Fortress.”

The officer’s pencil lead snapped. The officer glanced around to make sure no civilian heard. His voice lowered to a serious growl. “… Just so I’m hearing you correctly, you’re suggesting that the Crumbler is back after ten years?”

Logan did not answer. He didn’t want to say so in the public. He was afraid of causing a mass panic. The officer seemed to sense that. “Would you be able to come with me to the station? The Chief would want to hear about this.”

“Yes, of course,” Logan replied with a nod.

Ender hummed along to the tune playing through his headphones as he skipped in lieu with the flock of students. He was by no means eccentric, but the boy sometimes found himself lost in music and unbeknownst to him, plunged into a disconnect from reality. A part of his mind simultaneously analyzed his classmates’ quirks, or rather, appraised and devised simulations that would pressure them. His motive wasn’t to counteract them, but to narrow down means of assisting his classmates whenever they were in a pinch. Humans, much like machines, are connected through a network invisible to the eye. They are naturally hive minded, so mutual benefit was a prevalent policy.

Meanwhile, some of his classmates were trying to piece together countermeasures despite this theorem. Those individuals, despite how omnipotent they may be, are bound for only solitude.

Ender suddenly wagged his head faster than Brutus’ tail, bringing his conscious back to reality. ”Uwaaaaahh, gotta stop losing myself in muses. I’m gonna bump into somebody or somethi- ACK.” Ironically enough, the boy seamlessly lost himself in a muse and collided with the back of Mr. Unbreakable while he stood and displayed the dorm to the entire class. Chances are, due to the disparity between their builds, Ender was probably the equivalent of a fly and didn’t even register. Meanwhile the kid was rubbing his nose in noiseless agony. Tears began to well up since he had just bumped into what he believed to have been a concrete wall. ”That’s not skin! That’s pure titaniuuuuuuuum!!!” He internally cried as Mr. Unbreakable proceeded to lead the students into the commons.

Only able to follow the blurred shapes through a teary vision, the student took a moment to recollect himself as the pain subsided. Once his eyes had focused, Ender instantly shifted into overdrive and began to absorb every facet of his new home at a lightning fast speed. In his wake he left a trail of Oohs and Aahs as he seemed to teleport across the room, scrutinizing every aspect and detail. It was a mystery how he was able to move so fast with a seven foot cannon strapped to his back. All the while Mr. Unbreakable explained their living arrangements to the remainder of the class. Although it appeared that Ender was completely fixated on his current process, in all actuality he was picking up and digesting every word that left the teacher’s mouth.

At the mention of how dorm rooms were being divvied up, Ender was quick to act. With the knowledge that his travel case had been dropped off at the school a day prior to his arrival, he bulleted his way into the stairwell and ascended the flights. He arrived at an empty room and wheeled his case over to the bed closest to the opposite end of the room. The room was for the most part a blank canvas, save for a few essentials. After resting his weapon against the door's frame, he paced his way over to the case, set it down on its side and in one deft motion completely unzipped it. In it was an amalgamation of the stock accessories, in addition to a range of tools, assorted electronics, and even a gaming console. From this ocean of mayhem Ender produced a small black, metallic cube covered in rivets that all diverged to a single button located on one of its facades.

The student pushed himself off of the ground and applied pressure to the button, then tossed the cube into the empty corner before him. The contraction hummed for a few sparse seconds before it suddenly expanded and organized the abstract ridges that sprouted from it. Just like that, a full-fledged desk comprised of the same metallic stood before him, ready to be used. With time running out, he quickly placed his computer on its surface while closing the case with his foot. Now that he had achieved what he had set out to do, Ender gave the fruit of his efforts, or rather lack thereof, an affirming nod before he fell back onto his bed. His eyelids eased shut as he took in the ambience around him. The forcefield encasing the entire school gave off an especially peculiar sound. It was a faint hum, almost rhythmic, but unlike the multitude of cars passing by, it was ultimately calming. Pacifying even.

---

---

Now that he had thought about it, it did make sense that at least one person was complaining about the indoor use of Quirks. They were potentially destructive, and a danger to not only the students in the class, but in nearby classes as well. Damon himself did not particularly mind, however, as it let introductions and a general guideline to one's abilities be known instantly. Results were all that mattered to Damon, the method was simply a means to an end. And, despite not caring for this teacher, Mr. Unbreakable, he figured that there had to be SOME reason this guy was here. They would not put a complete idiot in charge of fledgling heroes, would they?

...Damon did not want to answer his own question, because he was afraid of the answer he would give.

The rest of the students were far more interesting than the ones that came before him, but perhaps that was because he had time to focus on them and not the needless slaughter of innocent bystanders (desks). The other "heroes" involved a young man who could summon spirits, feats that Damon witnessed were strength and speed, as well as kitsune-qualities. In a epic display of restraint, Damon prevented himself from reaching out and attempting to rub one of his nine tails. But who would blame him? They looked so fluffy! Luckily, he hadn't given any actual indication that an inner struggle was going on within the workings of his mind, or at least none that were immediately obvious. The class was probably paying attention to the guy taking the stage anyways, so he escaped with his cool-factor intact.

Next up was----...

Time stopped.

Damon clenched his fist and his heart skipped a beat. He could not figure out if he was angry, happy, or sad, but a strong feeling hit him nonetheless. To be honest, he had not felt any emotion as strongly as he did now since the last time he had seen her. But why was she here? Wasn't she supposed to be---

Dog ears...

Time started once again.

He felt like a fool. Tension drained from him just as quickly as it had come and was replaced by a feeling of idiocy. He was supposed to be a logical being, so why would he even think that was her? They were similar to the ears the guy who preceded her just seconds prior had. Nothing like the cat ears she had. Damon had to chalk it up to him simply not being prepared for these ears, whereas the transformation of the man happened before his very own eyes to see. Yeah, that had to be it.

This girl, Esther, at least had seemed to have a reasonable head on her shoulders. She took the side with plant girl about being against testing powers inside, but when it became clear that it did not matter at this point, she simply gave up on the matter. Her power was something you could figure just by noticing the extra features her Quirk had given her. She could turn into a wolf, and was named WolfFace. He hadn't actually seen someone with a full transformation like this before -- the people he knew before only had qualities of cats, they could never turn into one themselves -- but it could not be called "surprising" in anyway. Manga had many characters that did something similar, though it was not always a wolf that a character changed into. Esther did not really... do anything aside from bark while she demonstrated her Quirk, but one could only figure that she would be capable of increased speed and agility in her new form.

Damon could not believe his eyes when he saw the next student to take place on the stage that was the front of the classroom. In a way, that was not a bad thing. Despite being more or less emotionally cut off from people nowadays, he was still a warm-blooded teenage boy and was prone to thoughts and interests that pertained to that age group. So when someone blatantly uncaring of anything resembling a dress code had entered the stage, well, there was a very brief moment where he felt blood rush to his face, among other places. Only for a second, however! If there was one thing being under constant flirtatious behavior from a catgirl did that was positive, it was build a decent immunity to embarrassment and excitement. But that being said, what was with that getup? Was it because of her Quir--

Wait, he had heard about this before.

But... no, that was indecent! How could such a talent be used heroically? Quirks like that had their uses, but you would not think one would want to be particularly open about it, or try to use it as a means to become a renowned hero! Plus, what kind of name was "Viper" for a person with a lewd Quirk? Unless.... Oh.... my.... GOOOOOOOOOOOD!

A bright light glowed in between her boobs as she positioned her bleeding hand over the light, a hilt slowly rose from her. She grasped it and pulled forth a sword, her smirk large and proud as she swished it in the air a few times.

Oh, snakesword.

Damon's mental misconception on what her Quirk actually was (though it was more of a feigned delusion to entertain himself) instantly vanished as he focused on what the girl produced from her chest.

Viper, AKA "Fanservice really does exist IRL" as she might be mentally referred to as in Damon's mind in the future, had claimed that her boob-snake-sword was too dangerous to put on proper display in the classroom, which was mildly disappointing. Swords were always his favorite melee weapons, so it would be nice to witness some techniques or powers of hers, but causing too much more commotion in the building might get the entire class thrown out, so he couldn't blame her for simply showing the blade itself. He would not mind seeing more of it.

The blade, that is. Yes. That.

Ender, the next hero up, had an affinity for calculators? No, that was not it. He was also capable of briefly shattering dimensional walls of the fourth kind, which was an interesting trait too. Well, two could play at that game! Except... not now, because he would draw unnecessary attention if he started talking to, what it would appear like to everyone else, nobody. Back to reality, it appeared as though Ender had instead the ability to communicate with electronics. This, of course, include calculators so the initial theory was not entirely incorrect! But it seemed like it could be very useful, especially since electronics were in abundance nowadays. Perhaps that meant he could hack very well, or reprogram things? That would be what Damon assumed would be the most obvious and most-used function of his Quirk, though it was always likely there were many more possibilities. One thing that Damon noted above all else is that he apparently couldn't shut off the sound of the electronics, which actually seemed like it would suck horrendously. But he said it with a cheerful smile. How odd.

The final two to show their Quirks were quite scary, or at least had the potential to be. Redirection of energy from the Doc (whom Damon felt a particular distrust for almost immediately, a gut instinct of sorts) and Vector Manipulation from Dell who manages to be both a female and a male in this single post, were both capable of frightening feats, at least from the examples that Damon had seen. Manga exaggerated the capabilities of certain powers to be sure, but that did not stop Damon from going ahead and assuming that their potential was just as high as the characters in a manga.

Finally, the introductions had concluded.

....

....

....

Who.... do I room with? I guess it really does not matter, does it?

And that is exactly how much thought Damon put into the decision to take Ender as his roommate.

"You're more than meets the eye, so it would seem." Damon commented upon witnessing the insta-desk. It reminded him of the capsules from Wyvern Sphere X, a very popular manga and anime series. Damon wasn't entirely sure if this was some form of normal tech for the more economically-endowed, or if it was the result of his powers, but he was confident that either way it was a very practical thing to have, unlike Damon who had his heavy bag full of important objects that he required to live, as well as some clothes and other junk that made it a very big pain in his ass to walk around with. Because of how long it would take to actually unpack, Damon did not bother to even begin, as they were going to be leaving very shortly. He simply placed his bag down on his side of the room and stood by the door, waiting to leave.

---

The rest of the students that gave a demonstration of their quirk went by relatively quickly. She didn't find many of them too intimidating, in fact the only one she really thought would be any trouble should she have to fight them was Finn, the boy with the crazy hairdo. He was fast, and from what he did to the desk, it was safe to assume those hair whips were sharp. It would be a game of evasion, and hoping to wear her opponent down with long range attacks. She imagined the confrontation in her mind, munching on her snack and occasionally shooting Finn a glance, nearly tuning out the rest of the classroom.

Not long after the class had concluded their introductions, Mr. Unbreakable said it was time to bunk up. As they made their way to the housing area, she finished off her first bag of snacks, crumpling the wrapper the stuffing it into her back, withdrawing several granola bars from the pack in exchange. As she tore into the first, she wondered which of the female students would make an acceptable roommate. Immediately she ruled out the girl with the tree attributes, seeing her as a potential fire hazard. She also took the wolf girl from the list. She could only imagine the potential mishaps, and depending on how much time she spent in her wolf form, there was sure to be an insufferable amount of panting, whining, shedding, etc. All things she wasn't prepared to deal with at the academy.

That left only herself, Radiance and Viper. She couldn't see any reason not to share a room with Radiance, she seemed sociable enough, but her excessive cheeriness could potentially get on her nerves, sometimes she was just in the mood to be pissed off. Nothing wrong with that. So that left Viper, who as of this point had already shouldered her way through the crowd to make her way to a room. She liked her style, though being in the same age group it bothered her a little how developed she was, and a bit jealous that she seemed to flaunt it so openly. Viper didn't seem like the one to try and pry into your personal life, or analyze your feelings. At that point she had made up her mind and, shrugging her pack over her shoulder, followed after Viper.

She paused for a moment outside of the room Viper had chosen. She hadn't quite planned out how she was going to approach the situation. She wasn't going to ask permission, but she didn't want to go about it in a way that seemed confrontational. The last thing she wanted was to start a fight her first day at the academy, though admittedly, it would have been nice to see her use her quirk again. More of that later, she concluded.

Taking a deep breath, she made her way inside the room, clearing her throat as she crossed the threshold. "I see this bed isn't taken. You mind?" Before Viper could respond, she flung her bag onto the bed with a thump, and sat down next to it. "Name's Angela, if you missed it earlier. Or Nova, whichever you prefer. Pretty interesting quirk you've got. I'm curious to see how it works on the field." She offered a slight smile as she made an attempt at conversation, hoping she wouldn't respond negatively to her having claimed a spot in the room.