“Thanks for coming.” Theo said.

“Well, sure. Anything for my best friend.” Tekashi said as he sat down.

“Take a look at this tape of a villain who was causing some trouble the other day.” Said Theo, turning the tv on and playing the news clip.

“Hm. That’s definitely magic. I’ll have to talk with Maeda and see if we can figure out what’s going on.” Tekashi said, scratching his chin.

“Alright, thanks, man. Thanks for stopping by. We’ll keep in touch.” Theo said.

“You bet.” Tekashi said as he made a finger gun and a small spark appeared at his fingertip.

Meanwhile…

“That was awesome!” Cruz said.

“I know! We totally kicked her butt! One villain down and many more to go.” Said Kim.

“Cada, have you picked up anything on the radar?” Asked Cruz.

“Scan indicates no current threats.” Cada said.

“Well, wanna get some coffee?” Kim asked.

Sure!” Cruz said before they both left.

At the Slinky and Laughing Matter Hero Society, the common area was bustling with lots of people. Some were showing off their powers to each other while others were looking around at the other strange individuals who showed up.

“Hey, there’s a lot of people out there.” Jeff said.

“What? Really?” Said Theo.

He walked out to the common area and saw a large group of people who were trying to talk to the receptionists.

“Could I speak to the director?” One person asked.

“No, I was first. I need to see him.” Another person said.

Theo saw all of this and walked out to them.

“Attention everyone. I am Director Hip. I see many of you have come to join our ranks and become heroes for this city. Due to the large number of applicants, I have decided to bring back the hero exam. I hope all of you will participate to see how and where you could be used and as a result, we can make this city safe again. We will begin the tests tomorrow morning at nine o’clock. See you then.” Theo announced.

All of the people began to get excited and were talking amongst themselves as they slowly left the society.

“Bro, are you sure you want to do this?” Asked Jeff.

“Yes. You know more than anyone how badly we need heroes. Don’t you remember the good old days?” Theo said.

“Yeah, I do. Those were good times. We had a lot of good people.” Jeff said as he contemplated.

“Look around. Most of them are either relegated to office jobs, too old to fight crime, or just straight up dead. I mean we can’t expect Razorhead or Snowglobe Gorilla to fight the next bad guy who struts in with some crazy power. And now we’ve got magic to deal with. We need new heroes.” Theo said.

Jeff nodded and swung his jacket over his shoulder as he walked out of the building.

The next day…

Many people were waiting in line at the Hero Society when a voice came over the speakers.

“Ladies, Gentlemen, and other creatures. The hero exam is now going to begin. Please listen carefully as I explain the details of the exam. Your first task is a writing test that will test your level of intellect. You will have to write an essay about what you can bring to this society as well as what your powers are and how they could help. Then you will take the physical test where we will measure your strengths and weaknesses to see where it would be best to use you. The final test has been altered since the last time we hosted this event. For this hero exam, the final test will be a simulated fight against a random opponent to see how you would handle a real fight that has happened in the past. The difficulty will vary depending on how you performed during the first two tests. Good luck and we eagerly anticipate working with you.” Said a voice on the intercom.

The first test began as several would-be heroes began writing. Once they finished they moved on to the physical test as more people began the writing test. People of all kinds went through each test as Theo and Jeff watched them along with some other legacy heroes.

“Hey, that guy was cool.” Shawn said.

“Pfft. Did you see that little dude over there? He nailed the physical test.” Said Jeff.

“Gentlemen, focus. We need to choose the people that would be good heroes.” Theo said.

“Huh, would you look at that.” Said Shawn.

As he finished the physical test, a man made his way to the fight simulation. The test began and a holographic of the villain Cyberspace appeared.

“Ha! Get ready to die.” Said the holographic Cyberspace.

The man smirked as his hair grew quite long and entangled Cyberspace. He then tossed him around and threw him against a wall. Then, he boosted himself in the air with a clump of hair as he formed a hair fist that collided with Cyberspace. The holographic shattered as the test was completed. Several people who watched the fight clapped as he exited.

“Hey, put him in Room A.” Theo said into a communicator.

The test supervisor for the simulation stopped the man and instructed him to a room and went out of view as the door shut behind him.

“Hey, this guy could be interesting.” Said Jeff as he handed the written test to Theo from one of the other participants.

“Oh, you might be right.” Theo said as he looked up and saw the person they were talking about enter the simulation.

“Well now, what do we got here? You’re going down.” Said a holographic Antimatter.

“Ooh, this could be tough.” Shawn said as they all looked at the fight.

Antimatter pulled apart an atom which caused a huge holographic explosion that only affected anyone in the simulation. The explosion singed the person's coat revealing a woman with pigtails and a slim suit outfitted with various items and gadgets.

She began to glow before saying “Thanks for lunch.”

Then a massive amount of energy erupted from her body and knocked back Antimatter. 

She walked up to him and said “Goodnight.”

Antimatter exploded in a cloud of pixels and the test was over. Theo and Jeff looked at each other and agreed to put her in Room A.

“We’ve got a lot of powerful people here. I didn’t realize there were so many that want to help us and this city.” Jeff said.

“Well, sometimes it just takes one kick from someone who has shown that you can do it to be inspired to be heroes too.” Theo said.

Person after person came through and took the tests as Theo, Jeff, Shawn, and others observed and discussed all of them.

“Sir, we’ve got two kids here claiming to be Thorn and Hip.” Said one of the supervisors.

“Hm? Who are they?” Theo asked.

“They say their names are Walt and Sasha. They say their parents were Thorn and Hip and they decided to continue the legacy or something.” Said the supervisor.

“Jeff, check their frequencies.” Theo said.

“It looks like they're not from here.” Said Jeff.

“I had a feeling that was the case.” Theo said.

He told the supervisor to send them back to where they came from and the supervisor pulled out a device and changed its frequency to match the kids.

“Wait! It’s the truth I swear!” Said Walt.

“We just wanted to take the exam!” Said Sasha.

The supervisor fired the device at them as they began to glow and were zapped away.

“Anyway, who else do we have?” Theo said.

“Hey! That guy’s stealing my shtick. I wear the animal mask!” Shawn said as he pointed to a guy wearing a wolf mask.

“Aw c’mon, it’s a different animal. Don’t worry so much.” Theo said.

“Sir, this guy in the wolf mask claims he’s the next Snarf-Kai or something.” Said a supervisor.

“Oh, C’mon!” Shawn exclaimed as Jeff rolled on the floor laughing.

Later on, a lot of the participants were either in room A or B, and the remaining ones were given office jobs at the society but allowed to be backup heroes if the need arose. Theo had both groups come to the ceremonial stage in the society’s auditorium.

“I will now inform you of all of your roles. Those of you who were told to be in room A will be our forefront heroes and the face of the Hero Society. You will fight crime and keep this city safe as you show strength as well as kindness to those you come across. Those of you in room B will be our supportive heroes. You will help assist our frontline heroes in any way you can whether you can aid them in battle, heal their injuries, or be an indispensable help in things outside of battle. Remember this, you supportive heroes are not to be inferior to these frontline heroes. You have skills that they do not have. Likewise, frontline heroes, you should think of these supportive heroes as equals as they become your partners. Now you will be further split into groups and have a captain assigned to you for training and instruction. I thank you all for choosing to be here with us and we hope that together we can uphold justice and defeat the rising evil. Thank you.” Theo said to the new heroes.

Everyone was getting to know each other in the auditorium as Theo and some of the others with him began to converse with some of the heroes.

“Hi there. I watched you earlier today and I was pretty impressed by your display.” Theo said.

“Oh, thanks. The name’s Buzzcut. I can manipulate my hair to do almost anything.” Said Buzzcut.

“Huh. I feel like the name is kinda contradictory to the power but I’ve heard worse. Welcome to the team!” Theo said as he moved on to the next person.

“Um, hi.” Said a girl who was nervous but excited.

“Hi, what’s your name?” Theo asked.

“My name is Glowstick.” She said as she brushed her hair out of her eye.

“Oh, that’s a good name. I saw your fight today and wow, it was amazing. You took that villain out like he was nothing. What are your powers exactly?” Theo said.

She giggled and said “Thank you. My body is plasma so things can get pretty hot and sparky.” She said.

“Interesting. Well, it’s nice to meet you.” Said Theo.

He then came across a small guy who had a head made out of bread.

“Hey there, how’s it going?” Asked Theo.

The guy wrote on a little whiteboard and then showed it to Theo.

“Hi. I’m Briocheben. You can just call me Ben though.” The board said.

Oh, ok I get it. Brioche cause you’re a bread guy. Well, thanks for being here Ben. I look forward to working with you.” Theo said.

Ben smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

Slowly, all the heroes left and began their new jobs. Jeff pulled Theo aside and flipped the tv on.

“Bro they’re talking about us on the news.” Said Jeff.

“On to other news, the Slinky and Laughing Matter Hero Society held their hero exam earlier today with overwhelming success. After several years, there were concerns that this decision would result in failure as there was previously thought to be few people remaining who would want to step up into the hero role but it seems the brave acts of the new heroes Beam and Ceros have inspired people all over the city. Many folks showed up and were inducted into the society to become heroes and I believe I speak for all of us when I say I’m evermore hopeful for the future of this city. Thanks for tuning in to BS news and we’ll see you at 5.” Said a news anchor.

“We’re back.” Theo said.

Jeff chuckled and said, “Yeah, We’re back.”