AN: Thanks for reading and leaving reviews everyone!

"I'm glad your internships are going well," Melissa said.

"Same to you!" Mirio's voice echoed from her laptop.

"Thank you for letting me join," Nejire said, giving them a small smile despite her exhaustion. "But I think I'm going to bed."

"I'm going to bed too," Tamaki said. "Talking to you is exhausting."

Melissa felt herself laughing, and was joined by Mirio. "This is easier than our Monday meetings!"

"But those aren't after a day of patrols." Tamaki muttered out.

"Alright, I get it!" Mirio said. "I should probably head out as well, goodbye everyone!"

"Goodbye."

Melissa gave a small wave to her computer camera before she pressed the button to disconnect from her conference call, a smile playing on her lips as she leaned back in her chair. She had been keeping in contact with her friends with text messages, but since they all had some free time tonight they decided to catch up through a video call, instead.

Sliding her chair back, Melissa stood up and stretched, hearing her bones pop. After the first day Celica had been brutal in her training, and while she felt more confident in her ability to fight after four short days, she felt like she'd need a few weeks to recover from the training she had been put through.

Sitting back down, she checked the clock on the corner of the screen. It would be a little bit before her second video call - where she'd catch up with Izuku and Ochako. Despite growing close with her classmates, she couldn't help but feel a certain fondness for the two middle schoolers - she enjoyed spending time with them, even if most of it was training, and she felt like she could be herself. There were no expectations placed on her the way there were at UA.

Opening her word document, she continued working on the next part of Risa's story. Now that she had completed her training, she was currently spending several months with Takahiro, traveling across the American Pacific Northwest and stopping villains.

Melissa was happily typing away at her document until a notification popped up, informing her of an incoming video call. With a bright smile she accepted it, and a few seconds later the window popped up revealing Izuku's face.

"Hey Melissa!"

"Hi Izuku! How are things on your end?"

"They're going great," Izuku said. "Uraraka and I actually moved that car that we found last week."

Melissa laughed. "I'm surprised Uncle Might made you do that without me!"

"We were too. But we did it!"

"That's great!" Melissa beamed at the camera. "At this rate you won't need me at all and I can relax when I get back."

"Oh," On the screen, Izuku looked sad, as if Melissa had just told him something terrible.

"I'm kidding - I know you two wouldn't survive without me."

Despite her light tone, Melissa felt conflicting emotions. While she felt like she kicked a puppy when she saw Izuku's reaction, she couldn't help but feel a bit of warmth, knowing the boy who was All Might's successor wanted her around. Even though she would rather die than admit the truth, she felt like she had a lot to learn about heroism from him still.

"R-right!" Izuku squeaked out. "Sorry, I'm just-"

"I get it Izuku," Melissa said softly. "You're still getting used to…" Melissa waved her hands. "All of this."

"Yeah," On the screen, Izuku seemed to brighten up as he looked at the girl. "I guess if anyone would really understand, it's you, isn't it?"

"Yep! Just remember if you need to talk, I'm here, ok?"

"Even when you're off on internships?" Izuku asked hopefully.

"Even when I'm on an internship."

"Thanks, Melissa." Izuku smiled at the girl. "I guess I just needed the reminder."

"Well, I'll keep reminding you!" Melissa insisted. She was about to continue, but she saw another icon appear on her screen, indicating Ochako was trying to dial in. "But now it's time to relax!"

Pressing the button to accept the call, a window showing Ochako appeared on her screen, joining Izuku.

"Hey Izuku, hey Risa!"

"Hi Ochako! Has Izuku been giving you any trouble?"

"Nope!" Ochako said with a bright smile. "He actually asked me to come over on Friday after school! There's going to be a special on Thirteen airing on TV."

"Of course it's heroes!" Melissa laughed before wiping away a fake tear. "Our Izuku's growing up so fast."

"I'm right here you know," Izuku said softly as he tried to hide the growing blush.

"We know," Both girls said before they burst out laughing.

"That sounds fun!" Melissa continued. "Much more exciting than my Friday's plans at least."

"What are your plans?" Izuku asked curiously, thankful for any chance to redirect the conversation.

"Reading, mostly," Melissa began. "Although Celica said she's gonna take me out to dinner one night to celebrate a successful internship, so I'm looking forward to that."

"I bet she'll take you somewhere really fancy!"

Melissa thought about the habits that the hero had shown her over the last several days and couldn't help but giggle. "I doubt it. But it'll be a nice break from convenience store meals."

"Wait, she didn't even stock the pantry at her agency for you?"

Melissa looked at her screen in disbelief. "How much do you think heroes make?"

Ochako paused and her blush began to spread. "A lot?"

"They do, but they have to spend that money maintaining an agency and paying any staff they have. As a lower-ranked hero, Celica barely makes ends meet, and has to supplement her income with the money she brings in from her dojo."

"Oh."

Just like with Izuku earlier, Melissa couldn't help but feel like she kicked a puppy when she saw Ochako's crestfallen face. "I know you want to help your parents. That just means you need to become a successful hero! One that makes enough that you can support them too!"

"There's also advertising and merchandising to bring in additional income," Izuku jumped in. "Like All Might donates money from his figure sales to help the victims of villain attacks and their families!"

"Mhm!" Melissa bobbed her head in agreement. "Un- All Might has a ton of merchandising deals, on top of his own salary as Japan's top hero! I'm sure you'll find a way to support your parents!"

"You two're right!" Ochako slammed her fist into her palm, a renewed fire in her eyes. "This just means I need to be a super successful hero!"

"That's the spirit!" Melissa encouraged her friend. "I'm sure you can do it!"

"Yeah!"

"Thanks guys," Ochako smiled at her friends.

"And how are you doing Melissa?" Izuku asked.

"Yeah! You asked us, so now it's your turn."

"My internship's going great!" Melissa smiled at the pair. "According to Celica, she's not afraid of me breaking my wrist anymore when we spar."

"That's great news!"

"You'll have to show us how to fight sometime."

"I could," Melissa agreed. "But you two might want different fighting styles!"

"That's true," Ochako mused. "I'm pretty sure Izuku's gonna just copy All Might if his quirk lets him!"

Melissa couldn't help but laugh. "True! He'll have to ask All Might who trained him and see if they're still taking students."

Izuku laughed nervously and started to rub the back of his head. "All Might is a teacher at UA now, after all…"

"Wait, you'd seriously ask him?" Ochako asked.

"Did you forget how much of a fanboy Izuku is?"

"I wasn't being serious!"

Izuku winced. Truthfully, ever since he found out about One For All, he had been rewatching All Might's videos in an attempt to learn his moves. "I do want to be a hero just like All Might…"

"But that doesn't mean you should literally copy All Might!" Ochako said, exasperation evident in her voice. "You're you! And All Might is All Might!"

"It's true," Melissa agreed. Especially since that risks people learning about One For All. "While All Might's style might be a good foundation, you probably want to develop your own style. After all - if you can learn how All Might fights, that means villains can too!"

"I never thought about it like that," Izuku said.

"And while All Might might be super strong, we don't even know what your quirk is yet!" Ochako added. "What if you run fast? Or if you're super durable?"

"Exactly!" Melissa quickly added. "So you might want to reconsider how you want to fight!"

"I guess I'll have to think about it more," Izuku said sheepishly.

"I'm sure Risa will help us out, right?" Ochako said, looking hopefully at the screen.

"Of course! I don't want you two to risk breaking your arms like I did at my entrance exam!"

"Yeah, that would suck!"

"I hope my quirk doesn't have a drawback like that…"

"Wait, is that an actual concern?" Ochako asked curiously.

"It's actually fairly common in late bloomers," Melissa explained. "Since you've had your quirk since you were young, your body had plenty of time to figure out how to regulate your quirk properly. For late bloomers…" Melissa frowned. "Izuku's essentially going to be a four-year-old as far as his quirk's concerned."

"Oh no."

"It'll be ok!" Izuku insisted. "I've got a good trainer! And Melissa's got experience with her own quirk!"

"Exactly!" Melissa quickly added. "And worst case, we can build Izuku some support gear to offset his quirk's drawback!"

"That's a relief!" Ochako seemed to visibly relax. "It would be terrible if both of you had quirks that hurt you!"

Melissa looked at Izuku's portrait and began to laugh nervously.

The three talked for over an hour, the two middle schoolers eager to hear about Melissa's internship and share their progress about training.

Unfortunately the time began to catch up to Melissa as she let out a loud yawn.

"What, are you tired already?" Ochako teased. "It's only ten PM!"

"I've had a long day," Melissa pointed out. "I'm still getting up before six, and after Celica beat me up for hours we then went on patrol for most of the afternoon!"

"We should let her go if she's tired, Uraraka."

"I know, I'm kidding," Ochako said. "It was fun catching up with you!"

"Same!" Melissa smiled at the pair. "Seeing you on camera is much nicer than talking over text messages."

"It really is!"

"Yeah, I agree," Izuku added.

"Well, I'm going to head to bed," Melissa said, stretching for emphasis. "You two have fun this week - and stay out of trouble since I'm not around!"

"We will!" Ochako promised. "Goodnight, Risa!"

"Goodnight Melissa!"

Melissa smiled at the pair and gave them a small wave before she disconnected from the call. Looking at her document in disappointment, she saved what little progress she made before closing her laptop.

She'll have to spend most of her evening tomorrow writing, but for now her bed was calling to her.

The rest of the week passed rather uneventfully, and before Melissa knew it it was Saturday, and the last full day of her internship. As she had done the rest of the week, she spent several hours learning under Celica. After that, they would eat a hearty lunch, don their hero costumes, and go on patrol.

"Looks like you may have gotten lucky," Celica said as they walked down the street. They were walking at a casual pace, and the hero currently had her hands resting behind her head. "Nothing exciting going on this week."

"Is that unusual?"

"A little bit. I know we're on the outskirts of Osaka, but there's enough folks living here that there's usually something exciting going on."

"I don't mind!" Melissa admitted. "Your training's been enough excitement for me."

"Yeah?" The hero asked, a ghost of a smile forming on her lips. "I guess you are a first year after all. Can't have all the fun yet."

"Nope!" Melissa agreed.

The pair continued in silence for another street before Celica's phone blared out an alarm.

"Looks like you'll get to see some action after all," the hero said with a cocky grin as she pulled her phone off of her belt and looked at it.

"What is it?"

"There's a robbery in progress at a local department store." Celica frowned before turning to Melissa. "It's not glamorous, but ready for your first taste of action?"

"Yeah!" Melissa pumped her fist in the air for emphasis.

"Alright, follow me!"

The hero took off running, and Melissa brought up Overcharge to keep up, falling in line behind her as they raced through the streets. It only took a few minutes for the duo to arrive at the commercial district, where they saw a crowd already forming around a hole in the front of the store as civilians were trying to catch a glimpse of the action.

Melissa followed Celica as she pushed her way through the crowd. "What do you need me to do?"

"Stay out here and protect the civilians," the hero ordered. "Don't engage the villain directly unless he tries to attack them - then you have permission to use your quirk."

"Got it," Melissa said with a single nod.

Celica gave her a confident smile back before she stepped into the makeshift entrance. "Alright, give it up. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, and I can guarantee you don't want to do it the hard way."

"Oh, really?" The villain emerged from deeper within the store - a tall man standing almost seven feet in height. His whole body was covered in rust-red fur, and his head was that of a bull, with horns that further accentuated his height. In one hand was a large bag and in the other he held an oversized metal pipe. "Who's gonna stop me, you?"

"You're damned right I will!" Celica said as she slid into a fighting stance.

With a roar, the villain dropped the bag so that he could get a better grip on the metal pipe, before he charged at the hero. With a savage grin he swung the pipe hard in an overhead swing, only for Celica to deftly sidestep the blow.

"Too slow!" She said as she darted forward, slamming a right hook into her foe's abdomen.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" The villain asked as he grabbed Celica's arm with his free hand. The hero shook off her momentary shock and twisted her body around, freeing her hand before she hopped back a few steps, narrowly missing a display.

"How?" Celica asked as she went in for another punch, her prosthetic fist scoring a solid blow on the villain's arm, right below the shoulder.

"I'm 300 kilos of pure muscle, that's how!" The villain said triumphantly as his grip tightened on the pipe, rather than loosening like the hero had hoped. "And someone as puny as you isn't gonna be enough to stop me!"

The villain pulled his free hand back and went for an open-palm slap aimed at the hero's head. Celica raised her arms and blocked the blow, but the force was enough to knock her off balance, crashing into a table. When she slowly pushed herself upright, a fierce grin was etched on her face as her hair had begun to glow a dull yellow. "Let's see how you feel about this then."

Celica once again charged in, and this time the villain swung the pipe in a wide arc, trying to catch her with it. The hero anticipated the move and backpedaled, waiting the span of a single breath to let her foe overextend himself before she charged in, the energy surrounding her left fist giving the impression that it was on fire. Her strike landed true, fist crashing against his upper torso and knocking the wind out of his lungs.

Gasping for breath, the villain instinctively dropped his pipe, hands going to his chest but the hero ducked back to avoid being caught.

"You-" The villain growled.

"You know what they say, right? Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!" Celica said with a grin, emphasizing her rapid jabs and straights all across his left side, knocking the villain off balance. He staggered back into a display, sending the man to the ground with it. "Or I guess like a bull, in your case. I can keep going if you want."

The villain quickly searched the growing debris on the floor from their fight, eyes narrowing as they found what he was looking for. Rolling to the right, he managed to reach the pipe and grab it, swinging it wildly in the air and forcing Celica back before he rose to his feet. "Tch, it was a lucky shot."

The villain lowered his head and rushed at Celica, who deftly sidestepped his attempt to gore her with his horns. He revealed that the objective was never to attack the hero, however, as he continued on to where he had dropped his bag of stolen goods. "No point in wasting time against a weakling like you anyways."

Lowering his head a second time, the villain began to run toward the hole in the building - and the crowd that was watching from the streets.

Celica had already started running to try and stop him, but she was out of position and, without her quirk, she wasn't in any position to slow him down. Locking eyes with Melissa she issued her order.

"Sentinel, it's up to you!"

It's up to you to keep the civilians safe!

"Got it!" Melissa said as she surged forward, placing herself between the villain and the panicking crowd. Concentrating, she called upon One For All: Overcharge, all of the lights on her suit glowing a dazzling blue as she ran fifteen percent of One For All's power through her body. Feeling the rush of power, she braced herself, closing her eyes in the moment before the massive man would crash into her.

Dad, I trust you to protect me!

She winced and felt her boots sliding back from the force of the impact, but her armor held. Unfortunately, her foe wasn't so lucky.

"Ow!" The villain dropped the pipe and cradled his head. "What the hell is that tin can made of?"

"My armor is a shield to protect people!" Melissa declared as her eyes shot open. Her mentor's training kicked in, and she found herself reflexively sliding into the combat stance that Celica had taught her. "I won't let you hurt them!"

"Ugh, I don't have time for this, the cops are gonna be here soon," The villain shook his head to clear it before frantically looking around. Spotting a nearby alleyway, he took off running in an attempt to escape.

Melissa found herself hesitating, unsure if she was allowed to chase after him. She turned her head to look at the approaching hero. "Should I go after him?"

"No, but this does give me an idea," Celica's face lit up, and Melissa knew she wasn't going to like this plan. "I need you to hit me."

"You want me to what?"

"Hit me with your full power!" Celica brought her hands up to block.

Melissa's shock quickly morphed into a smile as she connected the dots, figuring out the hero's plan. With a single bob of her head, Melissa channeled an extra five percent of One For All into her fist, before she launched herself at the hero, closing the gap and punching the hero's raised arms. The hero caught the blow with ease, just like she had many times in training over the past week. However, despite her training, even she had trouble with the full force of Melissa's attack, staggering back several steps as her body tried to absorb the kinetic force of the blow.

"Woo, what a rush," The hero said, her eyes glowing red and her hair a blazing yellow. "Thanks for the boost!" Her face twisted into a savage grin. "Time to end this."

Wasting no time, the hero took off like a blazing arrow, charging down the alleyway in pursuit of the villain. While he was fast, the narrow confines of the alley slowed him down as he had to maneuver around ladders, dumpsters, and air conditioners, giving the hero the precious time she needed to catch up.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"What are you?" The villain began to turn around, only to expose his jaw to the hero, allowing her to hit it with a blazing uppercut, sending him flying through the alleyway to land out in the open street.

"And stay down!" Celica proudly shouted as she let momentum carry her out of the alleyway.

Melissa stood around awkwardly, trying to keep the civilians from entering the damaged building until the police arrived a few minutes later. Letting out a sigh of relief, she walked down the alleyway, rejoining the hero on the other side, who was currently monitoring the villain while a trio of officers were busy restraining his unconscious form.

"There's my intern!" Celica said proudly as she turned around, sweeping her arms for emphasis. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm ok," Melissa said, smiling and giving the hero a thumb's up in return.

"That armor of yours is tough, doesn't even look like it got dented."

Melissa looked down in surprise and sure enough, other than a couple of ugly scratches her armor appeared undamaged. Lifting up her arm, she brought up a status screen. "My suit's integrity is still almost perfect," She lowered her arm and smiled at the hero.

Celica whistled. "Well now I'm definitely gonna ask your dad for a replacement. Something that strong can handle the punishment I put this thing through."

"I'm sure he'll be happy to help!"

"Now then, it's time to show you one of the less glamorous aspects of the job," Celica said as she gestured to the approaching officer. "Paperwork."

"It can't be that bad, can it?" Melissa asked nervously.

"Ok, I officially hate paperwork," Melissa said as she handed the last form across the desk to the hero. "Don't most heroes have secretaries and assistants to take care of this?"

"If they're All Might, maybe," Celica said with a laugh. "Most of us can't afford to hire someone who specializes in that sort of thing."

"Oh," Melissa felt her cheeks turning pink at the mention of Uncle Might. Maybe she had spent a little too much time in Might tower and that had tainted her view of things. "Sorry."

"Just think of this as a reason to be super successful," Celica said with a lazy smile as she signed the last form and added it to the stack. "Do well enough, and you won't have to do this after every fight!"

"That does seem like a good incentive," Melissa smiled back before looking at the paperwork. "So now what do we do?"

"Now," Celica stood up and stretched. "We change out of our costumes, drop this off at the station, and get dinner!"

Melissa stood up and followed the hero in stretching. "Sounds perfect!"

AN: Sorry for the shorter chapter this week! I'm still recovering from my internship - I wish I could tell you more, but you know how it goes! ~SupportGrrl47