The Experiment – A New Beginning: Chapter 1 4

Chapter 1: Trust & Orientation

Deus lay back in his bed and thought over the events of the day. Hanging out with his dorm-mates had been the first time he had ever experienced life as a regular person, ever, and he was certainly thankful to have them as dorm-mates. As a result, he felt a pang of sadness when he noted he still couldn’t trust them. Not that he dis-trusted them either though. More that he was still cautious about them. From his discrete observations, he could tell a decent amount about his new friends. Mark was abnormally regular in his actions, with the only notably non-regular thing about him being his short height. Eliza had way too much energy, that much was for certain. Mῐn, Mῐn was an interesting one. She was outspoken when necessary, but seemed to want to avoid in depth, personal conversations. She also seemed to place far more of her trust in Eliza then in Mark or himself, though he doubted Mark had noticed that. As he thought about it, he noted there were only three people on the planet who he actually knew he could trust. There was the Dean, Susanna Victors, who shared his type of power and had given him tips on keeping his Super nature hidden. There was Mr Materialize, the agent who had introduced him to the Dean. And finally there was him. The Russian man who helped him escape the first hellhole. He still didn’t have any idea who he was or why he’d helped him. Sighing, he reached over and picked up one of the books on recent history that lay to the right of his bed. He had several more hours until the day officially began, and then it would be time for Orientation. He wasn’t going to spend it dwelling on the past.

***

As the tall blonde haired boy waited for the HCP elevator to open up and let him into the HCP, he found himself more than a little annoyed. His alarm had already broken down and as a result he had awoken a little late. Only by a few minutes, but it was still enough to piss Adam Samson off. As soon as the doors opened he was out like a rocket, zipping into the changing areas and coming out wearing the all-black freshman uniform after a few minutes. He quickly wound up in the throng of freshmen heading towards the lecture hall, though he ended up doing a double take when he spotted one of the other students. At 6’ 5”, he thought himself very tall. Yet he had nothing on the massive white haired boy in front of him, who only seemed to get bigger when compared to the barely taller than 5’ midget to his left.

Upon entering, Adam took a seat near the back, and noticed that the giant had taken a seat only a few rows ahead of him alongside the midget and two not unattractive girls, likely dorm-mates. His own room-mate appeared to have taken a seat near the blue haired girl he was chatting up last night at the front. As the Dean walked on stage, he heard one of the group with the giant take a sharp intake of breath. Looking over, he noticed that all three of the giant’s companions were glancing disbelievingly between the boy and the Dean, though he wasn’t sure why they seemed so shocked. Looking over, he noticed there were now three individuals on stage. There was the Dean, wearing a navy blue suit and black tie. Behind her and to her right, was another woman, wearing a white vest and light brown gym shorts, whereas behind her and to her left was a slightly shorter man, though seeing as the woman was only a little under 6’ that wasn’t saying too much. He noticed that while both had short hair and blue eyes, as well as wearing the same attire, the man’s hair was dark grey, the woman’s being blonde, and his eyes were slightly lighter in colour.  It was at this point that the Dean approached the podium and began to speak.

“Welcome freshmen, to the Korman University HCP. And also,” she said with a rather devilish smile, “to what will likely be, for many of you, one of the worst years of your life, ever. I am Susanna Victors, the Dean of this program, and also the teacher of Ethics of Heroism, a lesson mandatory for all freshman. Throughout this year, we are going to push you harder than many of you will ever have been pushed before. Many of you have come from towns and communities where you were, if not the only, then one of a few Supers around, which means you have yet to go up against others like yourself who can truly push you. But that is no longer the case. Now, you are surrounded by Supers, people with powers just as strong, if not stronger, than your own. Here, you will learn what it means to be a Hero, and also what it means to fight a Super, all while keeping your extra-curricular activities a secret up top.” She smiled as around half the class groaned. “Without further ado, I am going to introduce you to your instructors for this year. Behind me and to my right is Sarah Smith, your Combat instructor for this year, and behind me and to my left is Dmitri Babanin, your Alternative Instructor for this year.” Saying this, she stepped back as Sarah stepped forth, taking the podium.

She looked around for a second before speaking herself, “As Dean Victors just informed you, I’m your Combat Instructor, Coach Smith, SO LISTEN UP!” The members of the class nearest to her visibly cringed at this, before giving her some very angry glares. “It is going to be my job, and great pleasure, to personally knock you all down time and again. Every day of the working week after your normal classes have ended, you will be present at this facility for 3.5 hours of Gym. Every. Day. That doesn’t mean you get to skimp on the weekends if you want to make it any further than first week. By the time I’m done, you will either be searching up every curse on the planet, including voodoo, or I will not have done my Job, and I will personally make certain that doesn’t happen, you get me? Good.” Coach Sarah now also stepped back, allowing Dmitri to approach the podium.

Just like Coach Smith, he looked around before speaking, “As you know, I am Dmitri Babanin, though you will refer to me as Coach Babanin. While my colleague will be tempering your bodies to fight, I shall be sharpening your minds, teaching those of you whose abilities are not frontline material to instead be a knife in the back of your foes, and you will learn new ways to act, fight, and survive.” He spoke with a slight Russian accent, enough to determine he was of Russian origin, but only just. He too stepped back as Dean Victors returned to the podium.

“Listen closely, what you’re about to hear is important. Until the end of first semester, you are all going to be training under the guidance of these two Coaches in two separate groupings: Alpha and Bravo, These groups will each hold around half the class, and both will consist of both girls and boys. Everyone, please check your pockets.” Everyone did, and found that they had a card in their pants pockets. They were all small and rectangular, though some were blue, and others white. Adam’s was blue. “Everyone with a blue card, you’re part of Alpha. Everyone with a white card, you’re Bravo. After I’ve finished, you’re all going to participate in combat rankings, to determine where your strengths lie compared to those around you. Alpha members will only fight Alpha members, and Bravo members will only fight Bravo members. You will compete in a series of tournament style matches. Please note, although winning will make it more likely that you gain a higher rank, it is not the sole judgement on where you end up. We will judge not only how well you fight, but also how you fight. If you land an opponent more powerful than yourselves, but still put up an impressive fight, you will still score highly. Without any more delaying; Alphas, follow Coach Smith, Bravos, follow Coach Babanin.” With that, half the boys and girls headed towards their Combat Instructor, and half towards their Alternative Instructor. Adam vaguely noted that the giant and one of his female companions were a part of Alpha, while the other two were with Bravo. He smiled, hoping he might end up with the big guy as an opponent. He was very curious to see what he could do.