Hero Academies

Chapter 4: The Recreation Room

In only a few days, Liam’s role in his group of friends was established. After his first day at school, people soon recognized the brunette as part of the assemblage of teens that all lived in apartment 1D. The more observant students had noticed his constant looking out for the other members of the team, from telling them to fix their clothes to making sure they weren’t late for class.

               The other members noticed Liam’s behavior as well, and were only slightly annoyed by it occasionally. One day Liam was insisting Harry eat more properly and tried giving him his own breakfast, to which the curly haired boy replied “I’m fine, dad.” The name soon stuck, and it became a common sight to see the other boys referring to the brunette as “daddy.” Liam never bothered to stop them from doing so, and only said that if he was dad then Louis and Niall should be the babies.

               As for Liam and Zayn, it became habit for the two to push their beds together before going to sleep. Every night they would exchange words until one of them fell asleep, and every morning the brunette would find himself in a tangled mess of limbs and blankets with the dark eyed boy.

               The end of the school week quickly came, which meant a special day for every student in Hero Academies. Every Friday, students were to test their abilities by going to the Recreation Room, a place specifically designed to recreate events that tested the abilities of their students. The school day was shortened to half a day, and students would take turns in the Recreation room. While some were being tested, others would observe. Since Liam was still new to the school, the instructor in charge explained to him the basics of what would go on.

               “You’re going to be in one of the pods laid out in the room. Inside, you’ll be knocked out, but your mind will work perfectly and you’ll be in a dreamlike state. We have software that’ll recreate your body and abilities into this dream world. Your team members will also be there, and you’ll be put in a situation that is similar to a rescue mission or something like that.

               “Now, you can’t be harmed physically in the real world, but if you do get injured in the dream world, you will feel the pain and the injuries will appear on your virtual body, as if they were real. If you have a broken arm, you’ll feel all the pain and won’t be able to use it like you normally would. This is to make the situations as realistic as possible, and to test your pain tolerance.

“You’ll also have health and stamina stats. Once again, this won’t affect your actual body, but you can get tired and you can die in this dream world. If you die there, you wake up and you can leave your pod. The other members of your team will still be in the dream world though, and they can still try to finish the mission.

“Everyone in this room can see what’s going on as you are in the dream world. You are scored on teamwork, tact, and if you accomplish the objective. All parts are considered equal in terms of points, and if you don’t work well together, a team member dies, or you fail to reach the objective, your score will be affected greatly.

“The scores won’t be considered part of your official school grades, but we do keep track of it and the top ten students can be sent on actual missions next semester. All in all, this is a very realistic virtual world, but you will never be physically affected by it. It lets the teachers see how capable you are and what you need to improve on.”

When the five teens ambled into the recreation room, they saw everyone checking the list that stated the order of the students being tested. Some walked away from the crowd looking relieved, others with expressions of nervousness and with slight panic in their eyes.

Louis managed to push through the crowd to see when they would go. They were the fifth group going. Liam let out a sigh of relief. They would probably have to go on the first day, but at least they weren’t first.