Chapter 239: 239 | Welcome to Hero Law [GT BONUS]
"You’re staring," Percy said from beside me, his voice low enough that only I could hear. He had not looked up from his notebook.
"I’m observing."
"The duration and direction of your gaze suggests observation is not the most accurate term." He turned a page. "I’ve noted similar patterns in seven other male residents this morning. You are not unique in your response to the female uniform configuration. You are, however, more obvious about it than most."
"Thanks, Percy."
"You’re welcome. I estimate we should leave in four minutes to arrive at Building C with adequate time to select seating positions."
I tore my attention away from the common room’s generous display and focused on the task at hand. First class. Hero Law. Professor Mercy.
"Let’s go."
We left through the front entrance and merged onto the covered walkway with streams of other students heading in the same direction. Class 1-A residents moved in a parallel current twenty feet to our left, and I spotted Sloane’s pink ponytail near the front of their group, her blazer unbuttoned and her stride aggressive enough that people instinctively gave her space. She didn’t look my direction, but the Devotion’s Echo pulsed with focused energy from her side of the bond. She was locked in. Ready.
The walk to Building C took exactly seven minutes, which Percy noted with visible satisfaction. The covered walkway opened into a wide atrium lined with glass walls and polished floors, and the doors to Room 214 were already propped open when we arrived.
The classroom itself was built like a small lecture theater, with tiered seating rising in semicircular rows from a central presentation area. A smart board dominated the front wall, and the Halloran crest was embedded in the floor beneath the podium in silver and deep green tile. The seats were surprisingly comfortable, the kind of padded chairs you’d find in a corporate conference room rather than a school, each equipped with a fold-out desk surface and embedded charging ports.
"I took a seat in the third row, left of center. Percy settled beside me, his notebook already open. The row behind us quickly became our territory. Caden dropped in, slinging his feet onto the back of my chair. Marco claimed the seat next to him. Camille took the end of my row, a move that felt both casual and territorial.
The rest of the class filtered in, each gravitating to their natural habitat. Theo claimed the front row with earnest confidence. Lyra materialized in the middle, unseen until she was simply there. At the opposite extreme, Petra chose the highest, most distant seat, her posture a clear ’do not approach’ sign.
The clock on the wall read 8:58.
The door opened.
Sable Mercy entered Room 214 the way water moves through a narrow channel. No announcement. No pause for effect. She was simply not present and then she was, standing at the podium with a tablet in one hand and her dark eyes already assessing the room’s occupants with the kind of attention that made you feel like she’d already read your file, formed opinions about it, and decided whether you were worth the next ninety minutes.
She was short. That was the first thing I noticed. Maybe five-two in her training shoes, with a slender frame that contained nothing extra and nothing missing. Her dark hair was long, pulled back and pinned in a style that looked relaxed and was definitely calculated to remain aerodynamic at speeds I didn’t want to think about. Her features were soft in a way that registered slowly and then didn’t leave, wide dark eyes with a calm that could easily become something else, a mouth set in a neutral line that wasn’t quite a smile and wasn’t quite its absence.
She was beautiful. The kind of beautiful that snuck up on you because nothing about her presentation demanded you notice it.
Her uniform was dark and close-fitted, the Halloran faculty insignia on her left shoulder rather than the standard lapel placement. No jewelry. No accessories. Nothing on her person that served a function other than the one she had assigned it.
"Good morning." Her voice was economical. Every word carried weight because none of them were wasted. "I’m Ms. Mercy. This is Hero Law, Session One. You will address me as Ms. Mercy. I will address you by your last names. The material in this course is not optional, not negotiable, and not something you will find interesting until the day it saves your career or your freedom. By then you will wish you had paid closer attention."
She set the tablet on the podium without looking at it.
"The International Hero Law, known as the Accord, is the framework that separates you from criminals. Understand that sentence. The distinction between a licensed Hero and an unlicensed Aspect-bearer using their power in public is not philosophical. It is legal. It is the difference between a career and a prison cell, regardless of your intentions or your results."
Nobody moved. Nobody breathed too loudly.
Caden’s feet came off the back of my chair without being asked.
"This course will cover the Accord’s key provisions, the licensing pathway you are currently on, the rights and restrictions of your Provisional License status, the criminal classifications of unauthorized Aspect use, and the ethical frameworks that the Accord was designed to enforce." She paused. "It will also cover the frameworks the Accord was designed to enforce and consistently fails to enforce, because understanding the gap between intention and implementation is the difference between a Hero who lasts and a Hero who becomes a cautionary tale in next year’s textbook."
Her eyes moved across the room. Not scanning. Receiving. Taking in every face and filing whatever she found behind an expression that gave nothing back.
Her gaze passed over me for approximately half a second longer than anyone else.
Or maybe I imagined that.
"Open your tablets to the syllabus I uploaded last night. Section one begins on page three." She picked up a marker and turned to the smart board. "We start with the Unbound Era and why eighty years of vigilantism convinced twelve nations that regulating Aspect-bearers was preferable to letting them regulate themselves."
She wrote a single word on the board in sharp, clean letters.
ACCOUNTABILITY.
"This is the only word in this course that matters. Everything else is commentary." She turned back to face us. "Begin reading."
