“When my world came to an end, I was shocked at how easily people died. In less than a second, friends and family became corpses. And yet, the Heroes take much deadlier blows and press on. That was where my obsession started.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with being afraid of needles, Isaac.”

  “Ghh…”

  The messy-haired boy clung to Roger like he was his only hope of survival.

  “Man, this is embarassing.”

  Roger and Isaac sat on a cot, while Nurse Alma, in all her lack of compassion, brandished an intimidating needle. One look at the abnormal thickness of the needle had Isaac regressing to the mind of a cornered animal. Nearby, Jeremiah and Ashley were on emotional support duty.

  “It’s not as b-bad as it looks, Isaac!” Jeremiah said.

  A loud snort came from Jeremiah’s left.

  Besides Isaac, everyone looked at the gaudy girl who covered her face. Her eyes, wet from contained laughter, hid behind her rainbow acrylic nails.

  Roger shot Ashley a pleading look. The girl’s face was scrunched like a napkin, all to stop herself from laughing at this scenery.

  “Yeah… it’s super easy.” Ashley managed.

  They were in Myriad High’s General Clinic, an imposingly sterile and cold medical center where all processing entrants spend a miserable time with paperwork and inoculations. Fortunately, the paperwork was finished. But the inoculations. . .

  Roger certainly didn’t envy this part of the job.

  “Nurse Alma…”

  The woman looked at Roger, tired and annoyed as always. She was already irritated at Roger’s begging of her to snuff out her cigarette, but now he dared to ask even more of her? The nurse huffed, her messy blonde bob cut bouncing slightly.

  “What.”

  “As you can see, my student here is upset. Could you maybe…”

  “Go easy on him?”

  “Well, yes.”

  Nurse Alma stared daggers much sharper than needles into Isaac’s head.

  “No. Brat wants to be an Agent, right? Agents get hit by worse than a little needle.”

  Roger sighed. Things were going well, until now. About 20 minutes ago, just before entering Alma’s office, Roger gave his three students a quick sitrep on how to behave.

  “Nurse Alma is the Miscellaneous Hall’s Head Nurse. You’ll be seeing her but hopefully as little as possible.”

  “Is she… not someone you want to be around?” Jeremiah asked, sweat building up on his forehead.

  “Well, I’d prefer that you wouldn’t be seeing her, since that would mean you have been terribly wounded.” Roger said. “But I suppose her personality can be rough, especially when I am around.”

  “Huhhh?” Ashley crowed. “Don’t tell me you stood her up or somethiiing?”

  “No way?!” Isaac shouted. “Teach is a womanizer?!”

  “Mr. Hill…” Jeremiah said.

  “What?” Roger laughed. “No, she just hates that I give her more work than she expects. I had been her patient 32 times in the last class I taught.”

  The trio quieted down for a moment.

  “But… how?” They asked.

  And with that, they began their inoculations. It went well for both Jeremiah and Ashley, who took the needles with virtually no problem. This would be Roger’s second set of students, so he wasn’t expecting every child to be accepting of needles. He certainly wasn’t expecting Isaac of the three to be the main culprit.

  “Isaac, let me remind you of the benefits of these injections. Just focus on my words. By the time I finish, you’ll be finished. Ok?”

  “Alright, man. Just start it already!”

  Roger gave him a reassuring smile that Isaac couldn’t see as he was buried in his teacher’s chest at the moment.

  “These are Nanoinjectors, a technological wonder of the medical field that can improve multiple physical attributes. The most prominent example being boosted regeneration and durability, turning otherwise lethal wounds into manageable wounds. Most of the physical testing you went through back home was actually for the purpose of making sure you would be able to handle the nanomachines inside of the injections.”

  Jeremiah, curious as ever, raised his hand.

  “Mr. Hill, is it true that nanomachines lose potency the older we get?”

  Roger smiled, grateful that his student was playing along.

  “Correct! Nanomachines are rejected as the human body gets older and more intolerant of foreign bodies.”

  “So that’s why Principality’s exist huh?” Ashley mused. “Teens have a better chance of accepting the nano-thingies, so we start young~”

  “That’s. . . right.”

  Roger could tell the practiced smile on his face had faltered. For the sake of our meritocracy, we raise child soldiers. Roger thought. And we tell them they’re heroes.

  “Even then, under 30% of Blessed can accept nanomachines even at a young age. You three are Blessed among Blessed.”

  “Uhhm.” Isaac dared to peek up at Roger. “When are you guys gonna get this over with?”

  Nurse Alma grunted from her desk on the other side of the room.

  “You already got the injection.”

  “Whoa, when?”

  “About two sentences into my explanation.”

  Isaac reeled back from Roger’s chest and dramatically fell to his knees on the cold pale floor.

  “What the hell man? Why didn’t anyone tell me?!”

  “Aww, but Isaac!” Ashley cooed. She seemed overjoyed to be allowed to break the dam and tease Isaac to death like normal.

  “You looked so comfortable holding onto Roger like that~”

  “Anyways!” Isaac shot back up, desperate to move on. “Am I bulletproof now?”

  “First shot takes a month to augment the body.” Nurse Alma curtly replied.

  “Oh.”

  “Now get out, all of you.”

  The perpetually agitated nurse began shooing them away. Roger reluctantly let himself be guided out.

  “Thank you for inoculating our newest additions with such short notice, Nurse Alma! Maybe I could repay you with—”

  The door shut centimeters away from his face. Roger wasn’t startled by this, of course. She had shut the door on him so many times, he memorized the optimal positioning to avoid getting his nose smashed in. The three students huddled together, staring at the locked door.

  “Man, that chick’s real sour!”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “And to think she’s our Nurse. . .”

  “Totally rude.”

  “Now, now.” Roger said. “Like I said before, she is just sick of my antics. She’s quite cheery when—oh look who it is!”

  The three kids turned to match Roger’s view down the hallway.

  An old man quickly and loudly approached them from afar. As he got closer and closer, Ashley and Isaac gawked as they realized just how big this man was. Jeremiah made some strange mixture between a squeak and a croak as he pointed at the figure.

  “N-no way, it’s him!”

  “IT’S ME!” the old man replied with a voice that could easily match an explosion with its deafening volume. Ashley groaned and covered her ears, while Isaac pressed himself against the wall for the sake of balance. Jeremiah stood in place, jaw dropped as if to use his Blessing.

  “Froggy, who is this old guy?”

  “How do you not know him?” Jeremiah asked with more animosity than what was once thought possible.

  “He’s an ex-Agent of T.H.R.O.N.E.! A Dominion rank hero! That ‘old guy’ is Bloodnaut!”

  “Roger!” erupted the gargantuan Dr. Krovopuskov. The man was fully in Suit, barely discernible from his bygone days as Agent Bloodnaut with the classic mixture of knightly plate armor under a veneer of sleek black hazmat material. His voice was slightly muffled by his gas mask, and his warm and friendly eyes gazed down at Roger behind a red visor. He towered over the decently tall Roger by over a foot. The students were even more miniscule in height.

  “Good to see you, my boy!” Dr. Krovopuskov rapidly pat Roger on the shoulder, barely managing to not demolish his less-experienced peer.

  “Hey, Bruce. Looks like Amplification training began today, I see.”

  “Right you are, my умница! These brats, they get too uppity after passing Midterms exam, so I am letting them to know who is boss!”

  “Well, let’s hope you didn’t get too rough on them. The more time they spend on a cot, the more time they get to strategize.”

  As the senior and junior teacher conversated, Jeremiah forced Isaac and Ashley into an impromptu history lesson.

  “Bloodnaut is one of the greatest Agents to ever exist! His own blood amplifies his strength to endless levels! Along with the other Main Instructors, he was a member of Gate! That’s right, best friends with M.G. Myriad! Howdoyounotknowthis?!”

  “Chill, man! Bloodnaut rings a bell, I just thought he died of old age or somethin’!” Isaac said.

  “We get it, he’s totally a big deal, now can you stop shaking us?” Ashley whined.

  Booming laughter shook the hallway. As expected, Dr. Bruce Krovopuskov’s Blessing activates even when he laughs.

  “These new students of yours, they are funny! I am liking them already!”

  “I’m glad to hear that. In a month or so, I’d like to start borrowing some of the Amplification Halls’ equipment once again if you wouldn’t mind.” Roger said.

  Dr. Krovopuskov gasped. He excitedly squatted down in an attempt to meet Roger at the same height, his armored knee leaving a dent on the floor.

  “You are having another class? Hичёсе! Why didn’t you say so earlier, boy?”

  “Ah, well. . . I finally have the minimum number of students to teach another class. I reached my quota yesterday night, believe it or not.”

  “Wait a sec, Teach.” Ashley chimed in. “You just reached the quota? But there was a Waiting List, though?”

  Roger smiled. Myriad High was the most prestigious of Principalities. She must have thought I was bluffing about Miscellaneous Students being a rarity.

  “Like I said before, The Waiting List was not for the sake of too many, but too little.” Roger said. “The Four Main Halls of Myriad High are Amplification, Physiology, Manipulation, and Creation. Of course, these are the four sections in which Blessings are categorized. The Miscellaneous Holding Company you have been sorted into is not just a name.”

  “Right. . .” Jeremiah muttered. “You’re the Miscellaneous Hall’s Main Instructor.”

  “You won't be having a better teacher than this one, рыбка!” Dr. Krovopuskov said as he began to gently yet roughly pat Jeremiah on his shoulders as well. Jeremiah croaked in awe at such a celebrity speaking to him.

  “Bloodnaut, sir! C-can I p-please have an autograph please!” Jeremiah began to frantically pat his pockets. After a while, his already wide face began to deflate further in realization.

  “Oh. . . I left my notebook at home. . .”

  “Oh man, Jerry’s becoming even more of a frog.” Isaac said.

  “Aww, it’s ok Froggy! You can always get it another time~” Ashley purred. Jeremiah’s hair began to ruffle back and forth, an effect of being pet by Ashley’s telekinetic hands. Krovopuskov, as always, found something humorous about this situation and shook the ground with his thunderous laughter.

  “It is good to talk to you, my boy, but I will not be doing the burdening any more.” Krovopuskov said, inhaling loudly through his mask. “I have broken students to cheer up. Goodbye!”

  Krovopuskov stomped past Roger and the three kids and squeezed himself through the doors to the Clinic. Though he was separated by both a door and a hallway, Krovopuskov’s voice could be heard as if he had never left.

  “That could have been my Instructor?” Isaac wondered. “Mighta dodged a bullet, not gonna lie.”

  “Let’s give the Instructor some space, shall we? A mile or so should do.” Roger said. He began to leave, until he realized that Jeremiah stared at the door to the clinic, still enraptured.

  “Oh man. . . Mr. Hill is friends with Bloodnaut. . .” Jeremiah muttered.

  “Isaac? Ashley?”

  “We’re on it.”

  Each taking an arm, Isaac and Ashley dragged Jeremiah along.

  “Our investigation led to a pretty big bust, by the way.”

  “Really?” Ashley said.

  “That’s right. The one you referred to as Shrinkman turned out to be a lackey of a prolific arsonist. Spitfire is what he’s called.”

  Jeremiah snapped to attention. His newfound reputation as the Hero-Villain Enthusiast of the group had been made apparent.

  “The villain whose saliva turns alcohol into flame when he spits?”

  “Correct. The C.S.P.D. managed to find his hideout after interrogating Shrinkman. Thanks to you three, a highly dangerous criminal is soon to be behind bars.” A part of Roger’s words were to placate Ashley. As much as she tried to hide it, she was ashamed of her eagerness putting herself and others in danger with Shrinkman. Roger didn’t mind. That eagerness was a valuable resource.

  They lounged on a bench in Myriad Park. It wasn’t a true park by any means. The entire location was just past the gates of the heavily-fortified Myriad High. It was a large statue of M.G. Myriad with tiled flooring over a flowery grass field that served as a warm welcome to arriving students and faculty.

  That statue, Roger thought. It’s the epitome of inaccuracy. Some things will only be a reminder of past greatness and never its true representation. Roger knew this more than anyone.

  More than anyone.

  Strangely, Isaac changed the subject.

  “Gate. . .” Isaac said.

  “That’s right. Gate.” Roger replied.

  “My family never talked about heroes, but I saw merch of them every once and a while. I guess Gate was the real deal, huh?” Isaac rubbed at his now swelling arm. Roger smiled bitterly.

  “T.H.R.O.N.E. stands for The Heroic Rescuing Or Neutralizing Enterprise.” The Instructor said. “Out of all the Leagues, Gate was the best at doing both of those things. They started T.H.R.O.N.E., after all.”

  “It’s kiiiinda embarrassing not knowing this til’ now.” Ashley said. She turned to check on Jeremiah, who stared at the statue with pure adoration.

  “Major General. . .” Jeremiah whispered.

  Ashley shook her head and looked at Roger.

  “So what happened to M.G. Myriad anyways? I know the other Gate guys work here now, but. . .” Roger noticed that Ashley spoke with a certain softness. She already knew the gist, but wanted to know more.

  “Cherub’s Fall happened to the Major General.”

  And now there was silence. Only the sound of birds, bugs, and far-off traffic graced the park.

  “Damn. Even I know about Cherub’s Fall.” Isaac mumbled.

  It would be best to split the events of the world in half: Pre-Cherub’s Fall and Post-Cherub’s Fall. The same goes for my life as well, Roger thought. Before and after that day. Before and after.

  “If it wasn’t for the Major General’s sacrifice, Cherub’s Fall could have been something far worse.” Roger said. “You may not know much about him now, but never forget that. He has done so much for you, even before you were born. You will understand this the more you learn what it means to be an Agent of T.H.R.O.N.E.”

  Roger’s words were intense, far more intense than he wanted to. He saw the grim yet resolute faces growing upon his students, and hated himself for it. That seriousness will be needed later, not now. Jeremiah broke his gaze away from the statue. The boy looked at Roger and nodded. There was a complete lack of trepidation in Jeremiah’s eyes. Roger felt gratitude from the bottom of his heart, and did not know why. He attempted to smile as warmly as possible. Let’s escape from this!

  “But things must be taken one step at a time! For now, dealing with the aftereffects of your nano-injections will be the first hurdle. The other nine students have already—”

  “Wait, aftereffects?” Isaac jolted to perfect posture. “You didn’t say crap about aftereffects, Teach!”

  “I didn’t?”

  Ashley sighed.

  “Alright, Roger. What’s gonna happen to me?”

  Roger paused.

  “Hmm.”

  “Hmm?!” Isaac and Ashley repeated. “What do you mean ‘Hmm’?!”

  “Umm.”

  “Umm?!” Isaac and Ashley repeated. “What do you mean ‘Umm’?!”

  “W-well. . .” Roger stammered. “It’s just. . .”

  He stood up abruptly and lightly stretched, unintentionally resting his clenched hands on his hips like the statue of M.G, Myriad. Refusing to look his students in the eyes, he continued.

  “As a celebration and reward for how well you three have done, why don’t I treat us to dinner at a nice restaurant? There’s this—oh! How strange, it feels as if my eyelashes are being roughly pulled at? Haha! Ashley, you wouldn’t happen to be playing a prank on me would you? Oh what’s this? Isaac, surely you wouldn’t be rudely pelting your sweet teacher with rocks and then using that speed to repeatedly shoulder charge me, haha! Ouch!”