"Looking forward to seeing you there!"

Elijah continues down the hall.

Margaret will continue likewise the other way, contemplating surge protection and EMP hardening.

The tunnel system continues to contain many wonders, most of which are featureless concrete walls and some of which are locked doors.

Margaret conscientiously ignores the first two doors she finds to be locked. The third one is too much. She checks both ways to make sure nobody's looking, detaches a strip of metal from her wrist and takes a torque wrench out of her pocket, and starts trying to pick it.

It's actually fairly easy to pop open.

The room looks to be an autopsy lab. It hasn't been used recently.

Ooh, cool. Margaret makes sure the door won't close on her and looks around the autopsy lab before heading back out. She should get back to her dorm and see if she needs to register her codename or anything before bed.

There's nothing particularly interesting in the autopsy lab except a very old bloodstain in the corner, apparently overlooked by however many cleaning crews. It's unclear how blood could have gotten that far from an incision on a corpse, but maybe it was a particularly energetic one.

She reaches Whitman unharrassed. Professor Wolfgang greets her as she enters, from her office to the side of the entryway. "Hello, Margaret! I'm glad you got back before curfew, that would have been awkward on your second day here."

"Of course," she says. "Got to be up bright and early for classes tomorrow!"

Professor Wolfgang smiles. "Your enthusiasm is very refreshing, considering the attitudes of some of your peers."

"I'm pretty lucky--I've always liked school and I really like my powers. And the selection of Gadgeteer classes looks great, lots of stuff I'll be able to apply in practice."

"I'm glad! We do try to provide a well-balanced and practical education."

"So do I just need to be in this dorm by curfew, or do I actually need to be in my room?"

"No, you just need to be here. Lights out is up to you, though you shouldn't make too much noise after 10:00."

"Fine by me. Any other dorm rules I might have missed hearing about, beyond the basic 'don't annoy your dormmates'?"

"Hmm... no drugs, no alcohol, no sex, those probably don't apply to you but let's make sure they don't, alright? If you have a problem with someone, especially someone else in Whitman, go to your fixer, that's Desiree, she'll try to get it sorted out. And if you have any other problems, you can always feel free to come talk to me; my door's always open."

"I don't know where I'd begin trying to do any of those things, but I'll keep all that in mind, thanks." Okay, she maybe has some ideas about how she could have sex if she had someone to have sex with, but they're even lower priority than learning to taste food and Professor Wolfgang doesn't need to hear them.

"Excellent. Anything else you need?"

"Nope, just sleep. I assume I'll find out what textbooks I need tomorrow."

"Yes, typically textbooks are handed out on the first day of class. Goodnight!"

In the morning: classes! She has:

Basic Martial Arts

Intro to Powers

Gadgeteer Lab

Robotic Anatomy

Intro to Fabrication Techniques

Exotic Materials 101

World Lit

Precalculus

Mutants in World History

Do all of those meet every day, or do they alternate?

Well, Exotic Materials meets Saturday. Other than that, every day.

She has Precalculus first, which is exactly as exciting as Precalculus is.

Intro to Fabrication Techniques is next. After the syllabus is handed out, they get a broad overview of casting techniques and their respective merits, with an assurance that they'll go into much greater detail later.

Then she has Basic Martial Arts. As soon as she arrives she will probably notice that all the other students have taken off their shoes and put them in the corner, and most of them are sitting seiza, though not all of them seem sure why.

Margaret will also take off her shoes.  She doesn't have any socks under them.

A few minutes after she sits down, an extremely tall woman wearing a black bodysuit with her hair in pompoms strides into the room, followed by a younger man in a karate gi.

She looks over the class. "I am Sensei Amanda Tolman. Everyone who wishes to remain in this class will purchase a gi for practice. Unless otherwise notified, you will change into your gi before class. When the bell rings, you will begin in seiza position, lined up, as you see the more experienced students here. We will practice in a variety of situations, including street clothes, costumes, and real-life situations. However, most classes will be taught here, and you will be wearing gis. Any questions so far?” She does not pause for questions. "The students in this class have a variety of skill levels, and an even wider variety of powers. This will require the use of some unique training tools. In the dojo here, we will use a variety of tools and weapons. Everything from a simple bo staff to the bokken to simulate a sword. There will be similar substitutes for knives, guns, or even gas and explosives."

“The single greatest benefit of this training is that it will teach you to think. You will be constantly planning ahead, assessing danger, planning escape routes or attacks. You will study tactics, learn to sense weakness and danger, and change your view of the world. This training is actually more important than the hand-to-hand skills. You will also learn that any power and any technique has holes."

“This is a good time to mention waivers. By virtue of the fact that you are here at Whateley, I know that your parents or guardians have signed damage, injury, and liability waivers. That means that I am not responsible if you get hurt in this class! And you WILL get hurt, every last one of you. This is a rough class. But it is also worth it."

"There are many more advanced martial arts classes, taught by a wide variety of instructors, in a wide variety of disciplines. You may ‘graduate’ to those classes, once you have mastered the basic concepts of this beginner’s class. You should also know that Survival, with its own forms of 'combat training', is still open. You may transfer out of this class and into Survival anytime through next Wednesday. After that, you will simply receive an F in this class."

Well, this is every martial arts class stereotype ever. She'll just try her best and hope it's good enough. And get ideas for firmware upgrades.

Sensei Tolman continues as she picks up a bo staff. "My predecessor, Tatsuo Ito, felt it important to demonstrate during the first lesson that a well-trained baseline can take down a powerful mutant. I have no powers enhancing my body, no TK shell or Exemplar strength. Terrence Washington!" she calls abruptly.

The boy in question jumps when she calls his name. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Come onto the mat. And my title is not ma'am, it is sensei."

Terrence comes onto the mat. He's an inch taller than the already very tall Sensei Tolman, and he looks like a bodybuilder. "Sorry, sensei."

"Do not apologize. Just improve. Mr. Washington, you are an Exemplar-4 and a TK-3b: you can lift up to three tons, fly, and resist low-caliber bullets. As an Exemplar, you are also much faster than the average human, and your mind works at superhuman speeds. However, you are untrained. I want you to fight me."

Terrence blinks. "Sensei, I'm really strong. I don't want to hurt you."

"Then fight to subdue," she suggests. She snaps her fingers, and a large cage descends from the ceiling. "This is the 'capture cage'. If you maneuver me into it, I will consider myself neutralized. Conversely, if I do so to you, you will be neutralized. Do you understand the rules?"

He nods.

Sensei Tolman nods as well. "Good. We will bow to each other - but do not take your eyes off of me. Then, my assistant Michael-" (the younger man nods) "-will shout 'Hajime,' and the fight will begin."

The instructor and student bow to each other. Michael shouts 'Hajime!'

Terrence comes at Tolman with a bear hug. She ducks under his arms fluidly and hits him in the shins with the staff. He yelps and goes down. "Do better than that," she snaps as he rises.

He tries to kick her, but she flows past him and sweeps his feet out from under him. He falls again. "I believe I mentioned you can fly," she says. "That attack should not have worked on you."

He rises into the air, then swoops down towards her. Having prompted this attack, Tolman dodges him easily and allows him to plow into the mat. She allows him to rise again, only to grab him by the arm and swing him bodily into the capture cage. It sways gently with the force of her throw.

"Do you yield?" she asks.

"Yes, sensei," Terrence says sullenly. He climbs out of the cage and returns to his spot.

She turns to the class. "Mr. Washington is, by my estimation, the student with the most raw power in this class, but it took me less than a minute to defeat him. No matter what your natural abilities, you can learn to fight."