Melissa Shield sat on a bench at the highest point of the stadium, looking at her hand with a conflicted expression. She had just come out of her fight with Yaoyorozu, and her little talk with both All Might and Gran Torino.
"What's wrong, kid?"
Speaking of the old hero, he walked up to the girl and sat right next to her.
"Oh, n-nothing, Gran Torino, sir," Melissa scratched the back of her head. "Just thinking about something-"
"It's about your Quirk, isn't it?" Gran Torino raised an eyebrow. "Feeling insecure about it again?"
Melissa flinched. She really had hoped she wasn't so transparent about it, but it looked like she'd need to work on her subtlety a little more.
That, and not ask Hagakure for tips again.
"Yeah, after losing my fight with Yaoyorozu the way I did, I feel like i made joke of... you-know-what," Melissa put a hand on her cheek. "I got this Quirk to become the next symbol of peace, and yet I made a fool of myself out there."
"So did Toshinori when he was your age," Gran Torino chuckled. "If anything, you might be taking the same steps as him without even realizing it."
Melissa raised an eyebrow. "Did he jump at the call too?"
"Oh he sure did, and now that you mention it, neither he nor you have ever told me how you got the Quirk."
Melissa eyed her surroundings. "Is this a safe place to discuss it?"
Gran Torino waved his hand. "Meh, nobody comes here, and besides I got Toshinori outside to act as a bouncer, so we should be fine. Now, how about you explain what happened?"
Melissa took a deep breath. "Well, I had called Uncle Might to come to I-Island in order to test out my latest invention..."
All Might, in his muscular form, equipped an arm brace that transformed to fit his arm just like a glove, with Melissa standing by his side as she gave him a thumbs up, which he happily returned.
He then clenched his fist, reeled back, and shot a hundred percent punch right at a fake mountain.
Not only did the mountain completely evaporate, but the clouds in the sky were destroyed, revealing a clear, sunny sky.
But most importantly, the arm brace wasn't even injured.
"Looks like it works, Young Melissa!" All Might boomed with a laugh.
The sounds of cameras and bright flashes assaulted Melissa for a second until the flashes were turned off, allowing her to adjust her glasses and dust herself off as a news reporter walked up to her side.
"And there you see it, folks! The latest invention created by the "Quirkless" inventor, Melissa Shield! An arm brace capable of containing a hundred percent of All Might's power!"
The people went "oooh!" and "aaah!" as Melissa rolled her eyes and forced a smile.
"Now tell us, Melissa Shield!" the reporter spoke, shoving her microphone right on the girl's nose. "What convinced you to do this project?"
Melissa pushed the microphone away. "Well, I always saw how Uncle Might constantly keeps holding himself back, because let's be honest: if he walked around at a hundred percent of his power, he could flip all of Japan upside down!"
All Might and the reporters laughed, though while the former's sounded genuine, the latter, Melissa noticed, had a hint of condescendance to it.
"So, in order to at least let him go all out with his punches, I created the arm brace. It's not perfect, since it can only go three tries-now two-before it gets completely destroyed."
The reporter raised an eyebrow. "So even the legendary "Quirkless" inventor that's done so many mind-boggling gadgets can't make one that can contain All Might's full power permanently?"
Melissa took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. "Nobody's capable of making that, Quirkless or not. I've come the closest with the arm brace, yes, but it's still just a temporary solution."
The reporter hummed. "Well then, what's next in your agenda, Mrs. Shield? Are you finally going to reveal your Quirk to the world? Or are you planning to create a gadget that can give aritificial Quirks to people?"
"Alright, interview's over," All Might spoke, grabbing and lifting the girl. "It's been nice talking to all of you, but we got other things to do!"
With that said, All Might jumped off the scene, leaving the dumbfounded reporters behind.
All Might locked the door and pushed a button, which further enhanced the lock with a cluster of different softwares: passwords, keys, walls, etc.
"Alright, that should be good enough for now," the number one hero remarked, putting his hands on his hips. "They should leave in a few hours, so until then-"
"Ugh..."
The number one hero turned around and saw Melissa laying on her bed, face planted on her pillow. He promptly sat on a couch nearby and scratched his cheek, trying to think of something to say.
"Well, you have to admit, the demonstration went better than expected."
Melissa rose from her bed, dusted herself... and shot a sharp glare at All Might, who flinched as the girl stood up and began ranting:
"Oh yeah, totally! I especially loved the part where they called me "The QUIRKLESS inventor"! Or the part where they asked me when I was going to reveal my Quirk to the world! Or, even better, how about the part where they asked me when was I going to create a gadget that could give artificial Quirks to people!? At least ask me if I'm anywhere near done with my research on artificial Quirks!"
"Calm down, Young Melissa," All Might requested. "I understand if you're angry at the media-"
"Not just at the media! I'm also angry with you!"
All Might's smile faltered a little. "M-Me?"
"From the very start of the interview, there was no way you couldn't notice I was uncomfortable with having my Quirklessness brought, and yet you stood in place, smiling like a giggling idiot until the interviewer went too far! If you had even the slightest bit of common sense, you would've grabbed me and left the scene the instant the reporters arrived!"
"Young Melissa-"
"But no! Let's just stand in place! Let's force ourselves to smile as the media decides to humilliate me on live television! It's not like I should be upset about, oh I don't know, the fact I was born a powerless freak of nature in a world dominated by freaks of nature with superpowers!"
Melissa paced back and forth, rubbing her forehead to try calm herself down as she visibly fumed from her mouth. The man wanted to say something, but considering his previous statement caused this rant, he thought it would be better if he shut up.
"It must be amazing to be on your shoes, Uncle Might! Seriously! You're loved by everyone, you bring hope wherever you go, and the part that actually matters, you got one of the strongest damn Quirks in existence!"
Melissa glanced at a mirror, and after taking a quick look at her reflection, she snapped back at the man.
"Meanwhile, look at me! I've taken into account what you said! I studied hard! I practiced hard! I've been making gadgets since I could make a toy gun in order to prove that I wasn't hopeless just because I was Quirkless!"
Melissa walked up to All Might's face. "And what do I get for it, Uncle Might?! What do I get!?"
"Um... uh-"
"I get my Quirklessness thrown at my face every single time I make a gadget, or cooperate with someone on a project, or every time I do anything at all! And it's been like that ever since Dad-"
Melissa suddenly paused, and she looked downtrotten for a moment before she switched back to anger, and snapped at All Might:
"You get the point!"
The bespectacled inventor stomped her way to a desk, sat down, and rubbed her forehead some more as she inhaled and exhaled, slowly calming her down until she... stopped.
"Sorry, Uncle Might."
All Might reacted at the statement. Whatever anger the girl had in her prior rant was now just... gone. And replacing it was a mix between sadness, regret, dread, and fear that sent a chill down his spine.
"It's not your fault the media's like that... it's not your fault I wasn't born like everyone else..."
"Young Melissa-"
"I just... times like these make me feel so helpless... powerless..."
With that one sentence, All Might remembered some words he heard not too long ago:
"Think about it: what's the point of giving more power to someone who already has power? Why not give it to rhe powerless minority who'd definitely need it more?"
Young Midoriya, even if you had a weird way to say it, you gave me the best advice on how to handle One for All's successor. All Might smiled. And now, it's time I do my part.
"Young Melissa, what would you say if I told
"I'd say you're pulling my leg, and at the worst time to boot!" Melissa sternly responded. "I mean, I just had my Quirklessness thrown at my face, I whined about it to you, I yelled at you even when you had nothing to do with what the reporter said, and now you wanna get my hopes up for what's probably just another piece of advice from you?"
All Might shook his head. "No, Young Melissa. This time, I want to give you the offer of a lifetime."
"Uncle Might, I know I might be following my Dad's footsteps as a scientist," Melissa chuckled. "But that doesn't mean I want to be your sidekick."
"Nonono, it's something greater than that," All Might sighed. "Listen, what I want to offer you, is my Quirk."
Melissa lifted her head and turned around, an utterly dumbfounded expression plastered across her face. "I'm sorry, you wanna offer me your what-now?"
Steam began coming out of All Might's form. "My Quirk. The Quirk that allowed me to become the number one hero. Just as my own teacher did for me, I want to offer it to you, so you can become my successor."
"Okay, no, you definitely have to be pulling my leg: there's no way there exists a Quirk that can be transferred like that!" Melissa stated. "And also, what's with the steam coming out of you?"
All Might took a deep breath, and promptly burst into a cloud of steam, prompting Melissa to open the window so the steam would come out. Once it was all gone, what remained was a very skeletal, and also kinda cartoony, All Might.
"This is why."
"Uncle Might! What happened?!" Melissa grabbed her hair. "Why do you look like a guy that just did the nasty with Midnight all night long?!"
All Might spat out some blood. "That's one way to describe me, kid."
"S-Sorry," Melissa walked up to the man, took out a napkin from her pocket and wiped it over his mouth. "But seriously, are you okay? What's with this form?"
"It's my true form," All Might confessed. "The real story is very long, complicated, and kind of a downer. All you need to know, is that in my last big fight, I actually got severely injured, leaving me in this form."
"And the muscular version of you?"
"Consider it a transformation. It's how I used to look before I got injured, but now it's just a temporary buff that I can maintain for a few hours a day."
Melissa frowned, and took a step back. "And you've had this form since your last big fight... wasn't that over a decade ago?"
"Eh, I'm not a big fan of keeping track of the years, all you need to know is that it happened a long time ago," All Might took a deep breath and scratched the back of his head. "And, now, well... I want to make you the ninth inheritor of my Quirk."
Melissa lowered her head, and a little smile formed in her face... before it was replaced with a frown, which she kept as she raised her head.
"If you always had the ability to pass down your Quirk... and you knew I was Quirkless... why only offer it to me now?"
"Your father and I might've broken apart on good terms, but I didn't want to make him believe I was trying to force you to do something you didn't want to do," All Might explained sadly. "Even at a tender young age, you showed much more interest in machinery and gadgets than heroics. Even when you became a teenager, you still showed interest in the support side of things, and I didn't want to take that away from you."
"Then, why me?" Melissa put a hand on her chest. "Why would you give me, of all people, your Quirk?"
"Because thanks to my ignorance, you became the butt of jokes in the world of support, even when you did your job much better than anyone else." All Might lowered his head. "The daughter of my sidekick... my best friend... ridiculed for doing something she loved..."
Then, he raised it with a little smile. "Besides, giving power to someone who already has power sounds pretty redundant, don't you think?"
All Might put a hand on Melissa's shoulder.
"Why not give power, to someone who needs it?"
Melissa's eyes became as big as dinner plates, and tears formed at their edges as she covered her mouth with her hands.
"Uncle Might... I'll do it!"
"Hmm, you keep saying that you rushed this decision, but from the way you're telling me, you were definitely hesitant about it at first."
"Oh no, don't get me wrong: as soon the idea Uncle Might could give me a Quirk was planted, I wanted to do it, no questions asked," Melissa twiddled her fingers. "But, you know, that day wasn't the best day... and there were so many things happening all at once: I found out Uncle Might's real form, I was offered his Quirk, he told me a bit about his previous big battle, and just... I was having a hard time processing everything."
Gran Torino hummed. "But once you did, you jumped into the wagon."
"Yep, I certainly did," Melissa forced a little laugh. "And I keep thinking back to that moment every time I doubt myself."
"Sounds like you think about it pretty often."
Melissa let out another laugh, but this one was genuine. "How did Uncle Might stand training under a grumpfuss like you?!"
"He grinned and bear it," Gran Torino snickered. "And he did it like a master!" the miniature hero jumped off and began walking to the door. "Now come on, let's go down. The next fight is about to begin."
Melissa nodded, stood up, and followed Gran Torino back downstairs, feeling slightly better about herself.
That, and the fact there was a chance she was gonna see Mina being pummeled to the ground. That also helped.
