GROUP A

DIIIIIIIIINGGGG!!

Bayani's phone alarm blared throughout the house. He hit snooze and rolled over for a couple more minutes of rest. His eyes closed before he jolted up and out of bed and rushed to put on clothes. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦! The door shut loudly, and a gust of wind could be felt as he ran past passersby. Bayani flung the warehouse door open, which caused all the other candidates to glare. He apologized profusely and walked up to Datu and Lucia. They all smiled at each other, but before being able to exchange greetings, everyone's phones buzzed simultaneously. The room fell silent as they all looked at their phones, the blue light shining throughout the room; a message was on everyone's screen.

𝑻𝒂𝒔𝒌 1: 𝑺𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒆

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬. 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤, 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐬!

Bayani opened the app, facepalmed, and turned towards Datu and Lucia.

"So it seems we have to create a team name and choose a team leader," Datu said with the same energy he had before.

"Yeah... we should just do something simple," Bayani suggested, "What do you think, Lucia?"

"Doesn't matter to me."

Bayani pondered about a team name and decided to look around. The other candidates were fighting over their team names and who should be the leader. With pride, he turned back around and smiled.

"Datu, you be the team leader, and the team name can be 'Group A.'"

"Huh? Don't you think that's too simple?" Datu questioned Bayani's suggestion.

"This challenge is about speed and teamwork. No need to put too much thought into it. Lucia was right; it doesn't matter."

"Alrighty," Datu shrugged and put the info into the app. It dinged and sent more information to Group A's phone.

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 '𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭' 𝐬𝐤𝐲𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫! 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧, '𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.' 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐄𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲!

All three read the message and ran out the door without a conversation. Dragon Mast skyscraper was an hour's walk from the warehouse, so they took a taxi.

"Now is the time we discuss powers," Datu said, pulling out a notebook from his shirt pocket.

"I don't have one," Bayani scratched his head out of embarrassment. Both Lucia and Datu nodded and moved on. Bayani was incredibly confused by this but was happy they didn't make fun of him.

"Well, I can see into the future, only regarding my enemy's attacks, though," Datu said nonchalantly. Lucia and Bayani let their eyes rest on Datu for a minute as if they were sizing him up. Datu thoroughly brushed over what he had just said to the two of them.

"So Lucia, what's your power?"

"I can control darkness."

"Well, I think we can work with this."

Datu drew up a plan in his notebook as they were driving. The last five minutes of the ride encompassed a lengthy explanation from him, complete with pictures and all. Bayani was to negotiate with the villain, who they nicknamed 'Queen T.' While Bayani was attempting negotiations, Datu and Lucia would sneak into the building as Lucia enveloped them in darkness, camouflaging them. Bayani let out a long sigh and cracked his knuckles.

"Alright, let's do this."

The three of them arrived a couple of buildings away from Dragon Mast. The skyscraper towered over the rest of the buildings in the city. A dark shadow loomed around them. Lucia and Datu walked over to the wall, gave a slight nod to Bayani, and got covered in darkness. No light emanated from the building; every light inside was turned off. Bayani shivered. He quickly gathered up his courage and went up each floor. The halls and rooms were all shrouded in darkness. Bayani kept his eyes on the ground, only looking up at the doors to open them. He turned on his phone flashlight but was careful not to point it at the walls. His hands were shaking; Bayani was scared.

As they were investigating, Bayani noticed a blood trail leading up the stairs onto the fourteenth floor. It continued into room 1451. Bayani braced himself and then knocked on the door.

"Trinity Etrust!" Bayani projected his voice into the room, "I am here to negotiate the release of your hostage."

A scoff could be heard from the other side of the door, it opened, and Bayani was dragged inside. The woman wore a purple suit with long blond hair and bangs covering her forehead. She dropped Bayani and let out a slight giggle, a smile spread across her face. She covered the smile with her hand.

"Oh? And what could you have to offer me."

Bayani froze. He didn't know what he had to offer. The room was silent, and Bayani could see someone strapped to a chair behind the woman. Bayani pushed the hair out of his face and smiled to himself.

"You can take me as a hostage instead," Bayani requested, "I'm younger. You have more to gain from me as a hostage instead."

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨? Bayani thought to himself. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘥𝘶𝘮𝘣 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯!

She snickered at him, "While that may be true, I could just take both of you as hostages."

Bayani thought for a second. This was new for him, and he wasn't sure what he had to do. Without much thought behind his action, he took a step back. She stared at him with daggers, her eyes narrowing as she took a step forward. Her eyes flashed purple. Bayani tried to move backward more but was stunned.

"Listen, kiddo, you really shouldn't rush up here, ask to negotiate, and have nothing to give," she took a step forward, "It's not like I would have listened to you either way, though, so don't feel too bad."

Bayani ground his teeth. Queen T rhythmically took another step forward, "Do you know what happens when I take another step?"

"I assume not; I can force you to act on any desire, no matter how small," another step, "I suppose you'll see how that works now."

Purple flashed once again in her eyes. Bayani tried to look away but couldn't move. A flood of everything Bayani has ever wanted to do went through his mind. Skydiving, self-harm, and making a pie, no matter how small it was, now thought again. Tears filled his eyes.

"Oh, you're one hurt young man, aren't you? How about you take a nosedive and try skydiving."

Bayani unconsciously took steps toward the window. Queen T walked on the side of him and made condescending remarks. With every step, more tears fell from Bayani's face. During this time, he wasn't awake to perceive what was happening. They approached the window, and she swung it open; a breeze filled the room as wind traveled across the side of the buildings. A wide grin unfurled on her face.

"Well, let's see if your superpower is flight," her eyes flashed purple again. Bayani awoke from his trance and grabbed the side of the window; he looked to his side to see Queen T. That's when she pushed him.