Chapter Text
Standing in front of the giant gate, Bart regrets doing this already. People drop off their family members, and teens walk up through the entrance while chatting in excitement, but all he feels is dread. He doesn't want to be here.
Bart would seriously consider running away if there wasn't a hand on his back, holding him still through TTK. It would just be a short run. Just to be sure he's not stuck in there.
"Let's do a selfie," Tim tells them with a simper. Looking over, Bart realizes that he's serious about it. Sipping his boba in full disguise, he truly looks like a college girl with nothing better to do.
Cassie sighs. "We're supposed to encourage him against his jitters, Caroline."
Checking her hips, Tim answers, "Well, Cassandra, he has nothing to be worried about because in the worst-case scenario, we just apply to another hero school."
That's a lie. The whole point is that they need U.A. specifically. But Bart hears the underlying message. If this fails, they have other ways to try and get home. Mustering up his courage, he makes a grin spread over his face. "Let's do it."
Cassie looks over questioningly but stands back with a sigh.
"Great," Kon announces with flourish, "I'm glad that we're finally moving on with this show." The audacity. As if the Godiva wasn't fretting the whole morning.
They cluster together and take their selfies with the U.A. arch behind them. A surprised shout makes them turn around. They see the commotion coming from a green-haired boy who is floating and talking to an apologetic girl.
Kon tilts his head for a moment, then snorts.
"He just tripped," he whispers under his breath. Right. It's going to take a while to get used to everyone around being a meta. Having a quirk. Bart wrinkles his nose. Who even came up with that name?
Tim turns a foxy smile towards them and says, "It's time to move on."
His breath hitches, but the Arcadia forces himself to nod. This is by far one of the easier missions that he's been on; there's no reason to be nervous. Still, Tim's smile turns into a Tim smile, not whatever persona he's playing.
Taking him into a hug, the Queen whispers, "We're just a shout away."
Bart returns the squeeze. The other two draw themselves around them, clutching them into one big friendship pile. As they let go, he steels himself to give his best shot.
"I'm going," Bart tells them. Probably to himself too. With wide grins, they send him off with "Bye"s and "Good luck"s. He crosses the gate.
*****
"WELCOME TO TODAY'S LIVE PERFORMANCE ON THE ENTRANCE EXAM! EVERYBODY SAY HEY!" The announcer calls into the conference room.
Nobody says anything, probably wanting this day to get over with after having just done the written part of the test. If Bart were in a better mood, he'd have matched the energy.
The announcer goes on to explain the exam, which would be easier to concentrate on if someone a few rows further stopped muttering. At least Tim's muttering tries to help them. Bart sniffs. He'd even take Kon's bragging right now. But sadly, none of this happens, and he instead learns that they are fighting robots and that they give different amounts of points.
That's smart; villains use robot armies all the time. But it sucks for those who aren't built for this kind of opponent. If Cissie were here, she'd throw a fit. This thing is similar to simulation training, but Bart has no idea how that could help to decide who can join a hero school.
Someone calls out, "May I ask a question?" That's when he realizes that only three of the four robots on the pamphlet were talked about. He just thought it was for aesthetics. Then the boy turns around to tell the muttering person to shut up, and Bart mentally sends his thanks. His attention span was already shot before the low-key dictionary read got spouted into the room. The announcer goes on to explain that the last one gives 0 points and is basically a stage gimmick.
From his two years of Young Justice, Bart knows for a fact that villains have a tendency to change the rules on how to beat them whenever someone new appears, so the solution is almost never going to be as easy as smashing every robot in the way. Except in Metropolis. Metropolis villains love robots.
Abruptly, everyone in the room yells, "PLUS ULTRA!!!"
Bart jolts in surprise. Glancing around, he realized that everyone is sporting a hyped-up look of determination. Did he just zone out the motivational speech? Dang. At least the introduction is over.
*****
Standing in front of the giant fake city, Bart can't help but wonder if U.A. is richer than Batman. Because Batman never built them a fake city, forget about five. Actually, he did pay to make the Watchtower in space, so maybe he just had other priorities. But still. Maybe Tim will buy them a fake city. Cassie would never agree, but maybe if he bugs Kon, they can make it happen.
Someone yells out, "This is going to be a piece of cake!" For a moment Bart looks over, but it's just another guy who flaunts his quirk. Hammer hands? Maybe that'll help.
Rolling his shoulders without dislodging the sports bag that Tim told him to take along, he wonders if his t-shirt is going to get destroyed.
The speakers squeak, then the announcer says, "And... begin!"
Bart doesn't have to be told twice and immediately taps into the Speed Force to run straight into the city. Despite doing the equivalent of a speedster jogging, it's still enough to bring gravity and velocity on his side.
Hooking his elbows, Bart tears off the closest robot's head and goes on to the next in his line of sight.
"What's wrong?" The speakers ask, "The test has started. Start running!" With that, a roar of chaos roars up behind him.
Looking back at the scrambling crowd, he realizes that the others probably need to destroy robots too to pass. But Bart needs to get in. Running through his options, he decides that he'll just start from the other side and work his way back.
Plan set, the speedster runs round the city to the other side at only 200 km/h - be proud, Tim, because that's such a waste of time - and goes hooking off more robots before they even realize that he's there. They really didn't think this through when they made them inactive before they noticed someone.
When he has cleared a street, Bart takes a break. That was the plan. Tim said to be good at the task but to take breaks.
He pulls off the sports bag and takes a peek inside, then lights up in happiness. Snacks. Chips, granola bars, and a few sandwiches. None of his judgment was fair; this is the best exam he has ever had to go through.
A yell has him stop mid-bite.
Speeding forward, Bart finds another participant who has fallen to the ground but has tripped up a robot and is about to be crushed. Even at a 1'000th of his speed, it only takes a few moments to get them out of the way.
Carrying them a few paces further down, he asks, "You alright?"
They make a confused noise, and he curses himself for forgetting the language. He repeats it in Japanese. Turns out that they hurt their leg painfully and don't know how bad the damage is.
Bart nods and speeds back to the starting line. Looking around for a teacher, he notices that there is a medical tent.
Going up to them, he says, "Leg got hurt, possibly fractured, but I've seen no signs of a break."
The old woman in the doctor's coat and cool open helmet blinks at him in surprise. Then she smiles and tells him, "Could you please put him on the stretcher, dearie?"
Bart puts them down, then rushes to tell her, "Igottago,thanks!" Just as fast, he's back in the city.
The rest of the exam goes by in the same fashion. Taking out a lane of robots, snacking, seeing someone doing something stupid, and transporting them out of harm's way.
That's when the ground starts shaking. Loud groaning of metal and the sound of crumbling gravel are something that he has long since become familiar with. It looks like they threw in a property destruction type. Damnit. Bart really hopes that they're not supposed to keep their surroundings from being damaged, because that has never been his team's strong suit. Neither is it Superman's, but nobody talks about that.
Running towards the danger is easy since it's at the center of the city where the smoke and panicked screams come from. As he gets closer, it's clear that none of the teens have any idea how to deal with a situation where the threat is vastly greater than them.
Like it's everyone for themselves, they run away in total chaos and block each other the way. Some collide together, while the most rational ones keep away from the others. A distressed civilian response. Even from just a glance, he can see that some of the participants are getting hurt by accident. This isn't about the exam anymore; this has just become an actual danger zone.
Despite how he wants to let go, Bart keeps himself in the limited 300 km/h and runs through the crowd towards those closest to the massive robot. First, he gets those people too close to the destruction site. With the buildings crumbling, they can't stay there, so he brings them three blocks further away.
With those in immediate need taken care of, Bart turns to the injured. Those hurt on the ground take priority and are brought to the medical tent at the entrance. Then come those who are wounded but running on pure adrenaline. Those are taken to the entrance of the city, where they have a view of the tent but are far away enough that they don't hurt someone by accident.
For a moment, Bart considers if tripping the giant robot into a building would deduct points. That's when the speaker yells out, "THE EXAM IS OVER!"
Bart lets go of a breath that he didn't know he was holding. It's over. All at once, he feels rather embarrassed at how seriously he was taking this. It was just a test; why was he all worked up over this? They just mimicked what could happen in an actual mission with people stupid enough to make it a hazard.
Stomping down the mortification, Bart takes out his sandwich and finishes his snacks. It shouldn't be too much to hope that Tim doesn't hack into the school, right? Because a technology quirk could catch him. That's too risky.
Wallowing in his dilemma while eating, Bart doesn't notice all of the attention that he has gained.