A month passed, and the rhythm of Hero Core had settled into something fierce and familiar.
Every morning started with drills. Every afternoon, simulations. Evenings were filled with tactical debriefs or the occasional mandatory lecture on hero conduct, battlefield ethics, or worst of all — paperwork. The kind that required hand-written essays about post-awakening law reform. Amplify still hadn't forgiven the program for that one.
But they were growing stronger. Everyone was.
Abilities that had once sputtered or strained now snapped into action with control and purpose. Physical limits had been pushed, then shattered. The special hero suits — dark, padded fabric laced with flexible mesh and their bold white names across the chest — were now broken in, stained with sweat and wear. The masks still hid their identities, but they were beginning to recognize each other by stance, voice, and presence alone.
Disrupt and Amplify had become a seamless duo. Barrier and Shadowsmith fit into their dynamic with surprising ease. The four of them had started training together regularly, forming a bond that was more than tactical — it was real friendship. And today, that connection was going to be tested.
Because today was the Four-Way Battle Event.
They'd been warned about it a week ago.
Sixteen cadets. Four teams of four. Each group secretly assigned a role: Hero or Villain. Two hero teams, two villain teams. The objective? Capture as many enemy flag strips as possible — bright colored cloths tied securely at each fighter's waist. Everyone wore the same uniform, save for their individual masks. Color-coded flags, based on teams and not hero's or villains, were the only true visual difference.
Capture the flag, capture the win.
When the assignments came in, the four sat together in silence in their prep room, staring down at the small red card that read:
"You are HEROES."
Disrupt let out a relieved breath. "Thank god."
Amplify nodded, pulling on his half-mask, the familiar black cloth sliding over his jaw and cheeks. "Let's hope that means at least one of the other teams isn't looking to rip our heads off."
Barrier adjusted her sleek, tinted goggles. "Don't count on it."
The arena was several miles from the main Hero Core campus — a specially designed terrain dome with multiple biomes, environments, and hidden paths. To keep things secret and prevent alliances before the event, each team was loaded into a separate black armored van for transport.
Disrupt's team sat in silence for the first few minutes of the ride, the hum of the engine and the subtle squeaks of the suspension the only sound. The air was heavy, filled with thought.
Then, Barrier broke the silence.
"We should keep our status secret," she said simply, brushing a strand of hair back under her goggles.
Disrupt looked up from his hands. "Why?"
She leaned forward slightly, her voice calm but sharp. "Think about it. Say we run into another team early. If we tell them we're heroes and they're villains, the second we open our mouths we start a fight we might not be ready for. Worst case? We end up surrounded with targets on our backs from the jump. We need to observe before we declare anything."
Amplify leaned back in his seat, thoughtful. "Okay, smart — but risky. If we don't identify ourselves and we're facing heroes, they'll think we're villains and come at us anyway."
"Exactly," Barrier said, nodding. "Which is why we avoid confrontation until we know. Let the other teams clash first. We pick our moment."
Disrupt tapped his fingers against the window of the van. "You're both right. We play cautious. No flag reveals until we confirm enemy status. But… let's not pretend we're safe either way. Even if we're both hero teams.
He looked at Amplify knowingly.
"Sunstrike will focus on us no matter what."
Amplify let out a breath and nodded. "Yeah. Doesn't matter if he is a hero or villain — we're a target."
Barrier turned slightly in her seat. "Maybe those differences will get put aside for the event."
Disrupt shook his head. "No. Not him. He'll want to prove something. Probably still pissed from when we tied with his team last sim. And if Ript and Flashzone are his side, we're in trouble."
There was a pause.
Then, a calm voice from the corner spoke.
"My shadows are perfect for this kind of mission."
All eyes turned to Shadowsmith, whose low tone always felt like it came from the walls more than his mouth.
Barrier blinked, then nodded quickly. "Of course. Why didn't I think of that."
Shadowsmith continued, "I can use the terrain and stay hidden. Wait until combat begins. Use the confusion. No one will even see me before the flags are gone."
Disrupt, despite his tension, cracked a small smile. "It's a strong tactic."
"But," he added, sitting forward, "remember — Duskcoat has the same type of powers. He's better at movement, stealth. You're better with your constructs and shadow weapons, but he's the sneakier one."
Shadowsmith's response came without hesitation.
"If he's the only thing in our way, I can handle him."
Barrier smiled. "Alright then."
She looked around, now energized, focused. "Then we've got a plan. Shadowsmith will stay concealed, tailing us or staying nearby. Disrupt, Amplify, and I will move in a triangle formation — defensive. If we encounter a team, we stall them. Draw attention. Force them to commit. When the moment is right—"
"Shadowsmith grabs the flags," Amplify finished, nodding.
"And if he can't," Barrier said with a smirk, "we've still got three competent fighters to brawl our way out."
Her eyes met Disrupt's. "Right?"
He stood slowly, his grey mask catching a faint glint from the van's flickering ceiling light.
"Right."
He extended his hand forward, palm open.
"To the team."
Amplify grinned and slapped his hand on top of Disrupt's. "Hell yeah."
Barrier followed quickly, her gloved hand light but firm. "Let's show them how heroes work."
They looked at Shadowsmith.
He paused… then, slowly, placed his hand atop theirs.
All four voices spoke in unison — low, but strong, behind masks that kept the world from seeing the fire in their eyes:
"Team Paragon."
---
A massive dome encased the battlefield like the shell of a forgotten world, towering and translucent, the sun above dimmed by layers of reinforced glass and technology. It gave the illusion of open skies while maintaining the hum of machinery hidden deep in the framework. The arena was divided into various sections— where Team Paragon now stood: the City Sector.
Tall buildings of concrete, glass, and steel loomed around them, casting jagged shadows along the asphalt roads. Alleyways bent at odd angles, crisscrossed with power lines and old signage. The air was thick with an artificial haze, as if smog had been programmed into the environment to increase the immersion. Trash fluttered along the gutters, and broken-down cars were scattered like carcasses from some past invasion. A few buildings bore lights inside, flickering through boarded windows, but they were empty—set pieces for the simulation.
Team Paragon—Disrupt, Barrier, Amplify, and Shadowsmith—stood in front of a squat, two-story building marked with a pulsing white insignia: their designated drop point.
Suddenly, a voice crackled through the speakers embedded in the arena walls, loud and blazing like a meteor strike.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"
The voice thundered—boisterous, charismatic, raw power behind every syllable.
"I hope you're READY—because I'm FIREFIST, your official host of this event and proud father of one of our competitors—Sunstrike!"
From somewhere above, a camera drone whirled overhead, zooming in briefly on the Paragon team before darting away like a hawk searching for prey. Firefist's voice continued, echoing across the battlefield like thunder rolling between buildings.
"Now I know most of you understand the rules already, but let's not assume everyone studied the manual, eh?" He chuckled. "There are four teams. Four members each. And each of your teams have been secretly designated in private as either Heroes or Villains. You've been given flags—color-coded for your team—to attach to your waist. Blue. Red. Green. And White."
Disrupt glanced down. The white flag at his hip fluttered slightly as a breeze passed. He patted it once to make sure it was secure.
"Your mission?" Firefist boomed. "Capture the flags of your OPPOSITE ALIGNMENT. You can capture ANY team's flag, but be warned: If you're a Hero, capturing another Hero hurts your chances of victory—and the same for Villains. So be smart, be brutal, and be strategic."
"To capture a flag, bring it to your sector's designated building—yes, the same one you're all standing next to—and submit it on the table inside. The system will recognize the flag and eliminate the captured player from the match. No KILLING. Just FLAG-STEALING. Take them by force if you must, but don't cross the line."
There was a pause. Then—
"The battle starts in 3… 2… 1…"
A beat of silence.
"GO!!"
---
Disrupt didn't wait.
He turned to his team and waved forward, already jogging down a narrow alley flanked by rusted dumpsters and cracked pavement.
"Alright, team," he said, scanning left and right as they advanced, "stick to the plan. Shadowsmith, vanish and keep high. You've got the packs in case things go sideways."
Shadowsmith nodded, and without a word, his body melted into the shadows, like ink bleeding into water. He was gone.
The remaining three moved cautiously, moving past parked cars and collapsed scaffolding.
"God, this place is eerie," Amplify muttered, his voice low. "Like it's frozen in time or something. Half expect to see a coffee shop still serving espresso."
Disrupt smirked. "Yeah, but all that glass up there makes it a sniper's dream. Keep your heads down near the buildings."
As they moved, the landscape began to shift.
The dense city slowly thinned into a quieter suburban zone. The sharp steel towers faded behind them as rows of modest two-story houses emerged—each with picket fences, trimmed lawns, and oddly perfect mailboxes. But the illusion was unsettling. Some lawns had mannequin families seated at picnic tables, smiling in frozen laughter. A sprinkler sprayed a yard where no real children played. Amplify shivered.
"This is worse," he whispered.
"Agreed," Barrier said, her voice steady but low. "The city feels like danger. This feels… wrong."
Disrupt raised a hand to halt them. "We going in?"
Barrier stepped up beside him. "Our strength is in forward aggression. Surprise. We don't defend well, we overwhelm. If there's a team in there, we catch them off guard. If not, we keep moving."
Amplify hesitated. "But what if it's a trap?"
Disrupt nodded toward the rooftops. "Then Shadowsmith will see it. Let's move."
But just as they turned to enter the neighborhood—a flicker moved across the pavement.
Disrupt's own shadow warped—twisted unnaturally—and without warning, lunged upward at him.
A hand shot from the warped shadow, grasping for his flag.
Disrupt reacted instantly, his arm snapping down to block the strike. The hand slammed against his forearm, barely missing his hip. The attacker darted back in a blur, fading into the light.
A tall, lanky figure stood on the other side of the street now. His clothes were dark, skin pale, eyes blackened like smoke. He spoke in a rough voice that scraped like gravel on metal.
"Incredible reflexes... Disrupt. "
Disrupt dropped into a ready stance. "Duskcoat."
The figure didn't deny it.
"Cute neighborhood. Shame it'll be a battlefield."
Barrier moved her hand forward, fingers snapping closed.
A glowing dome of blue light formed instantly around Duskcoat. He looked around inside it, tilting his head.
"Interesting tactic," he muttered.
And then—just like that—he faded. His body dissolved into shadow and slipped through the cracks in the street.
Gone.
Barrier lowered her hands, frowning. "I thought I had him."
Disrupt's eyes scanned the rooftops. "They're close. Green flags, probably nearby. If he scouted ahead, that means they're not far."
Amplify adjusted his gloves. "Do we really want to engage a team that fights like us? Their powers are similar."
"But maybe," Barrier said, "we got lucky. Maybe they're heroes too."
"Or maybe they separated heroes on purpose," Amplify offered, "to force confusion. To break up teamwork."
"Or they put them close together," Barrier countered, "so heroes could group up faster."
Disrupt held up a hand. "We can debate the psychology of it later. Either way, sitting here won't give us any answers."
He turned back toward the street ahead.
"We move. Shadowsmith's got our backs. If it goes bad, we fall back to him. If anyone even tries to get away with one of our flags…" He smirked, "they'd never make it past his shadow."
Barrier nodded, her eyes still cautious but resolved. "Alright."
Amplify rolled his shoulders, letting out a breath. "I'll charge up as we go. Better to be ready."
And with that, Team Paragon moved again—into the eerie neighborhood, where fake families watched them from fake windows, where shadows grew longer with every step, and where enemies that looked just like them waited in silence.
From the high rooftop above them, unseen, Shadowsmith whispered into the comms:
"Three contacts. Moving parallel to your position. Get ready."