The world came back in pieces.
First was the smell: sharp, clean, like rubbing alcohol and starched sheets. A hospital smell. Then came the sound: a steady, quiet beep from somewhere to his right. Finally, the feeling: a deep, bone-ache tiredness, like he'd been used as a punching bag for a week straight.
Ben Frost opened his eyes. The ceiling above him was a blank, off-white expanse. He tried to move his arm, and a hot spike of protest shot through his shoulder. 'Okay. Not moving.'
Memory was a blurry, messed-up slideshow. Jax's lightning. The ice wall. The feeling of his own blood grabbing every person. Then… nothing. A big, black blank space where the end of the fight should be. The last clear picture in his head was Director Korin's face, looking at him not like a hero, but like a broken, expensive toy.
"The brain reboots slower than the body. It's a buffer issue."
The voice came from his left. It was calm, analytical, and sounded way too awake. Ben turned his head, wincing at the stiffness in his neck.
Adin was sitting in a chair pulled up next to the bed. He had his blond hair with its smoky grey tips, and his oversized hat was resting on his stomach like a sleeping pet. He wasn't reading or sleeping. He was just sitting there, watching Ben with the focused interest of a guy examining a weird bug.
"How long have you been there?" Ben's voice was a dry croak.
"A while. They said someone should be here when you woke up. I volunteered. Everyone else is… busy. Or scared."
"Scared?" Ben tried to sit up, failed, and dropped back with a groan.
"Mmm. You don't remember the finale, do you? The big finish?" Adin asked, tilting his head.
"I remember winning," Ben said, the words feeling hollow even as he said them.
"Oh, you won," Adin said, a faint smile on his lips. It wasn't a friendly smile. It was the smile of a chess player who's seen a move nobody else has. "You're Rank 1 in A1. Top of the food chain. Congrats." He paused, letting the cheap congratulations hang in the sterile air. "You also functionally exploded. Essence-wise. You gave the entire freshman class a collective 'master of puppets' attack, spread your essence and submitted about 90% of parents and teachers, and put Jax Finn in the intensive care wing. They're calling it 'The Crush-out' in the group chats. Very dramatic."
Ben's stomach turned to ice. The blank space in his memory suddenly felt dangerous. "What did I do?"
"What didn't you do?" Adin countered. He leaned forward, his eyes bright. "It was fascinating. One second you're dodging lightning bolts, the next you just… stop. And then this pressure comes out of you. Like you turned gravity up to eleven. Everyone just pancaked. Teachers, students, the kid selling protein bars in the third row… It was a total system crash. The doctor says you burned out your own core doing it. That's why you feel like you got run over by a bus that was late for a very important meeting."
A system crash. Ben closed his eyes. That's what it felt like. Like he'd tried to run a program that was too big for his hardware and everything just fried.
"Why are you here, Adin?" Ben asked, opening his eyes. "You're not a medic. You're not my friend. You're the weird guy from the bathroom."
"Correct on all counts," Adin said, completely unfazed. "I'm here because I'm the only one who isn't terrified of you right now. They see a loose cannon. I see…" He gestured at Ben with his hand, like he was framing a picture. "…a profoundly interesting data set."
"What're you talkin' about, a data what?" Ben asked nervously.
"The blood thing."
Ben tensed. His secret!
"I know how you did what you did, because you see, you didn't control the blood on Jax and inside people. What you have is the power to manipulate water in all of its forms." Adin's analytical spark shone as he explained to Ben the powers he thought Ben didn't even know about. "Plasma is 92% water. You didn't control the blood. You controlled the water inside it.
It's the same H2O manipulation you used to turn gas into water and water into ice. You just applied it… internally.
It's not a bad power, man. What you did was really advanced hydrokinesis. You just can't lose control again, but good for you, I will be the one training you." He gave a little shrug. "To make you look a lot less like a monster and a lot more like a genius who had a very bad day."
Ben was shocked by Adin's explanation and further suggestions, but way more by the fact that Adin just came up with an alibi for his powers.
Could he get away with it without revealing his secret?
"Anyway, this guy Jax was really into ending you. What happened over there?" Adin asked.
Ben stayed silent. He had a bad feeling about this.
"Jax," Ben breathed, anger cutting through the fatigue.
"Do you think it was him? The synthetic toxin? Let me tell you, it's nasty stuff, designed to clog up your essence pathways. The doctors found it. You had about an hour left before it would've done permanent damage, or worse. You were fighting on a clock, with a hand tied behind your back, and you didn't even know it."
The pieces clicked together in Adin's mind with a sickening finality. The sluggish essence during the first test. The dizziness. The way his 'patch' had worn off so fast. It wasn't just nerves. Someone had tried to take Ben out of the trials before they even began.
"Probably," Ben replied, like he didn't know the answer.
Adin shrugged. "Motive, means, opportunity. He's the obvious suspect. But 'probably' isn't proof. All we know for sure is that someone in this academy wanted you to fail so badly, they were willing to kill you for it. Fun first day, right?"
The door to the room swung open before Ben could process that bombshell. Professor Vance stood there, her silver hair in its usual severe bun, her expression making the room feel ten degrees colder.
"Mr. Frost. You're awake. Good." She didn't sound like it was good. She sounded like it was a paperwork problem. "Your official disciplinary review is pending. Until further notice, you are suspended from all combat training and group essence exercises. You will report to the Director's office at 0800 tomorrow. You will also begin mandatory essence control therapy. Do you understand?"
Ben just nodded, the weight of it all pressing down on him. Rank 1. Suspended. 'I have won, but at what cost?' He was no longer a hero; he was a lunatic in the academy.
"Good," Professor Vance said again. She gave Adin a brief, dismissive glance. "You shouldn't be in here."
"Just keeping the patient company, Professor," Adin said, giving her a smile that reached his eyes.
With a final frosty look, she left, leaving the door slightly ajar.
In the silence that followed, Adin stood up, picking his hat off his stomach and placing it on his head. "Well. That's my cue. Rest up, Rank 1. You've got a big day of being in trouble tomorrow."
He was almost at the door when he stopped and turned, his hand on the frame. "Oh, and Ben? About the blood thing."
Ben tensed again.
"Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."
And with that, Adin slipped out the door, leaving Ben alone with the beeping machines, a head full of shattered memories, and one single, fragile lifeline: a scientific theory that could save his reputation.
Adin closed the door softly behind him, the quiet click feeling louder than a slam in the sterile hallway. He took two steps, adjusted his hat, and stopped.
Director Korin was leaning against the wall opposite the door, arms crossed. He wasn't in his formal director's robes, just a simple, dark training uniform. He looked like a shadow that had decided to take a break.
"Adin," Korin said. His voice was a low rumble, familiar.
"Director." Adin didn't seem surprised. "Good to see you doing hallway patrols. Keeping the linoleum secure."
"Don't sass me, young one." A faint, almost invisible smile touched Korin's lips. He pushed off the wall. "I know every student in this academy, Mr. Vance. Even the quiet ones who ace written exams but throw physical trials. Especially them."
Adin's playful smirk faded a fraction. "You know me from way before then. What is this really about? My test scores?"
"It's about the fact that the final rankings were processed an hour ago," Korin said, his gaze steady. "What do you think of your new class assignment?"
Adin blinked. For the first time, his cool, analytical composure cracked. "My... what?"
"Congratulations," Korin said, the word flat and heavy. "You've been promoted. Welcome to A1."
The hallway seemed to tilt. D-Class to A1 was impossible. It was a joke. But Korin didn't do jokes. "How?" The word came out sharper than Adin intended.
"The results took time to finalise," Korin explained, his tone that of a man reviewing a budget report. "A student has never ranked up from D-Class to A1 in the beginner exams. Your second test-solving idea was... statistically anomalous. Perfect, in several sections. The twentieth-ranked student in A1 showed poor judgment in the melee and has been moved to A2. So his slot opened up. As you did not participate in the A1 battle royal, you will be placed instead of him."
Adin's mind, usually racing three steps ahead, was stuck. They'd moved the rankings. For him. Because of a test score. The absurdity of it was almost funny. He was in A1 because he had a good idea... it was never that simple.
"Why?" Adin asked, the analyst in him needing the variable. "You don't shuffle the top class because someone knows the periodic table."
Korin's eyes shifted from Adin to the closed door of Ben's room. "I need a sharper set of eyes in that room. Someone who sees what's happening, not what everyone fears is happening."
Ah. There it was. The real assignment. Adin's shock melted away, replaced by a cold, thrilling clarity. He was being planted.
"So the promotion is my cover. I will not spy on my friend, you know?" Adin stated.
"It's not spying. I need you to take care of him, make him stronger, and give me the results. I know how much you are interested in him as an Essence user. You were the same with her. This is your opportunity, Adin," Korin corrected. "And your responsibility. You observed him closely today. What is your assessment?"
Adin slipped back into his element, the facts arranging themselves like clean lines of code. "Physically, he's recovering from severe essence burnout and systemic toxin exposure. Mentally, he's traumatised and has partial amnesia for the event's climax. Power-wise..." He paused, choosing his words with surgical precision. "His control is exceptional but nascent. The 'blood' incident wasn't a separate power. It was an instinctual application of his hydrokinesis. He manipulated the aqueous component of plasma. His origin power is H2O."
He delivered the theory cleanly, the perfect, logical cover story, without even realising. But then he added the other data point, the one that changed the equation.
"He was also poisoned, Director. A synthetic blocker. Someone tried to take him out before the first trial even started. He was fighting impaired the entire time. The physical and mental strain of that, combined with the toxin's residue, created a feedback loop. It wasn't just a loss of control. It was a system overload triggered by external sabotage."
Korin was silent for a long moment, his face an unreadable mask. "And who do you think that someone is?" He didn't seem surprised by the poisoning; he knew as soon as Ben entered the infirmary on the second test. If anything, it seemed to confirm something.
"Ben believes it was Jax Finn, Director. But me, I don't have a conclusion yet due to lack of evidence," Adin answered.
Korin let out a slow breath, the sound almost lost in the quiet hum of the infirmary.
Korin finally looked back at him. "Help him, Adin. Help him understand what he can do before he loses control again. And keep your notes. I'll want to see them."
It wasn't a request. It was an order, wrapped in the quiet authority of a man who played a very long game.
"Yes, Director," Adin said, his mind already whirring with protocols, observation schedules, and baseline tests.
'That's how he will get away with it.' That was the thought that circled Korin's mind. "Now, excuse me, Adin. I have some meetings to address. Take my number from your mother and send me the blood theory. I have some people to persuade."
Korin gave a single nod and turned to walk away, his footsteps echoing softly. Adin watched him go, the weight of the new rank on his shoulders, and the much heavier weight of the real mission settling in his gut.
Back in the room, Ben stared at the ceiling, Adin's words echoing. 'It's not a bad power, man. What you did was just really advanced hydrokinesis.'
It was a good lie. A necessary one. He clung to it like a raft in a stormy sea. Outside, he heard the faint murmur of voices, then footsteps fading away.
He was Rank 1. He was suspended. Someone had tried to kill him. And his only ally was a creepy genius who planned to study his powers.
Ben Frost closed his eyes. The path to being a hero, it turned out, wasn't a straight line. It was a maze, and he'd just stumbled into the darkest part, with no map or a guide. Hiding truth behind lies.