Chapter 19

"And you did this all on you own?" Power Loader asked.

"No?" Melissa sounded confused. Though it as a close miss, she almost asked the counter question with a healthy dose of teenage attitude.

Her homeroom teacher fixed her with a dubious glare, while Nezu just leaned back, amused.

"I designed it," Melissa explained, "did all the custom programming and most of the assembly. But I didn't make the nuts, bolts, and washers by hand. Or the cameras. Some of the brackets and myomers I manufactured, but most are off the shelf. I printed a few circuits to correlate and repeat the data, but the primary brains are a pair of Strawberry Tarts. Running Linux, though I did tweak the OS. As for the putting it all together, I did most of it. But Izuku handed me tools and helped with some of the heavy lifting."

Melissa stopped, having caught herself rambling again. But she did have one last defense.

"You should have access to my repos," she reminded him, "You can pull down all the revisions to the schematics and code."

"My apologies, Shield-chan," Loader bowed his head slightly to her, "My question was more surprise than doubt, but it was still a bad way to ask it."

"I'm also a little shocked by the latest set of revisions," Nezu told the blonde, "And that you finished them in time."

"I implemented these changes instead of waterproofing the entire rig," she admitted, "And I had a few other ideas I cut for lack of time and parts. Like a water cannon for the water polo match. But yeah, I added more cameras and scanners. Put more muscle to the legs for jumping and landing. And these... which I'm disappointed in myself for only thinking up yesterday."

She pointed to her favorite new addition to the wrist armor.

"Well, everything seems up to spec for the first round," Majima decided, "Though you won't be able to use the parts that aren't waterproofed in round two. But you have my sign off."

"I also approve," Nezu said, "And that said, we should both get to the starting line."

Power Loader gave them both a knowing smile, by this point well used to his students submitting last minute changes to their support gear.


Class 1-A watched the second years line up for the first event. And some of them, especially Izuku and Momo, where more interested on the changes to the race track slash obstacle course, than in the participants. There was only one racer either of them cared about.

To start, the course was longer but narrower. The same checkerboard of black and white two point five meter square panels. But instead of being ten panels wide, it had been reduced to eight. And an extra half kilometer had been added to the length, increasing it to two point five kilometers.

Secondly, there were more cannons. Yesterday, there had been no cannons for the first hundred meters. After that, there had been two, independently targeting mounts at either end of each row of the gird. Today, there were cannons immediately after the starting line. And there were three guns per row, the third cannon being on a taller base and between the original pair.

Finally, where the path split in middle, it did not stay flat. The left branch angled up into a small hill, while the right dipped into a valley. The hill rose quickly and fell in two stages with a short plateau between them. The valley fell then ascended at the same rate.

"And there are probably the additional types of traps and attacks Nezu-sensei promised," Izuku continued to mutter, "But we can't see those right now."

"Shut up," Bakugou barked.

Izuku ignored him. But the greenette was done anyway.

"Ha," Bakugou laughed a moment later, "What is Blondie supposed to be? Some shi... some 100 yen store Iron Man?"

He had intended to say 'shitty garbage heap Iron Man'. Only for Izuku to look at him through narrowed eyes. A flash of pain throbbed in the bridge of Katsuki's nose. Recovery Girl had kissed him (remembering that brought a blush to Katsuki's face), and told him he hadn't been badly hurt in the first place. But he could still feel the bolt of green energy hitting him. See the merged daggers pointing at his face. And he also recalled that over the last year, Izuku had avoided and ignored him. Except when Melissa was present or Bakugou insulted her. The ice cream spoon. Blondie having to stop Izuku from beating the crap out of long-fingers. The White Day incident.

Bakugou couldn't completely stop the insult. Wouldn't. But he toned it down and cut the profanity.

Even Izuku had to admit, here in the light of day, Melissa's support gear looked a little rough around the edges.

"What it does is more important than how it looks," Izuku declared confidently.

"I would challenge you to build anything near as good," Iida-kun told Bakugou. But weakly, as if he wasn't convinced of his own statement.

"I don't know," Mineta commented from 1-B's box, "It has its... selling points."

Ashido-chan threw a piece of popcorn at him.


Melissa lined up. The blonde didn't try to take a spot on the starting line, instead staying just behind all of the confident Hero Course students. There were enough of them jockeying for position at the front of the pack. Shield didn't feel the need.

She hit the button on her backpack. The box unfolded like a metal slime and wrapped over her body. She hopped so the boots could close over her sneakers. The gauntlets assembled over her hands and wrists. The steel skeleton and mechanical muscles wrapped her legs, torso, and arms. Finally the helmet pieces closed over her head.

The gauntlets and helmet were immaculate. They fit together seamlessly and were polished to a mirror shine. The only thing they might have been missing was an enamel coating with Hero colors or an insignia.

The same could not be said of the rest of the suit. The boots were rough-hewn, having noticeable gaps between the plates over Melissa's ankles. There was no other armor, except for thin pauldrons that were required to distribute the weight and force. The myomers were properly sealed, of course, but the brackets holding them needed shaping and sanding. The metal sheathes holding the wires had some cracks in the welding. All in all, it looked like a first pass at the suit, that Melissa was testing before she finished it.

To Mineta's point, the suit wrapped Melissa's bust and hips, without any armor to conceal her body. This accentuated her curves and pulled her loose gym uniform tighter. If that was what you were looking for, Melissa's support item did not disappoint.

Nezu raised his starter gun.

BANG!

Melissa jumped. She sailed over her yearmates, and landing on a square in the third row.

"Whoa," Asui-chan croaked.

Without any of the hesitation or scanning they had seen from Hatsume-chan, Shield leaped ahead three more squares and one to the left. She landed on a safe, wooden floor. Then she sidehopped to a metal floored square four spaces right. It gave her the clearest path forward, at least for the first half kilometer.

Though she was definitively in second place, there was one student ahead of Melissa. Wingspan had sprouted hummingbird wings and shot forty meters straight up. Then she switched to condor wings and soared forward.

"Think they're so cool," Bakugou grumbled under his breath, "Let's see if they can take a hit."

It took a moment, but the cannons were able to compensate for Melissa's rapid bouncing around. One fired, aiming to hit her in midair.

Clack, clack, clack.

A panel extended from the back of each of Melissa's gauntlets. They spiraled out rapidly.

Ker-chunk.

With a weighty metal sound, they locked into place. Shield now bore a meter diameter instance of her name on each arm. She tilted her right arm down a few degrees. The first dodgeball hit the shield. It was a glue ball. For a moment it looked like it would win the struggle to latch on to the buckler. But it slid off the neo-teflon coated surface and fell into a panel full of icy water.

Melissa landed and leaned into a second attack. This was one of the heavy dodgeballs. The arced titanium under the non-stick veneer absorbed most of the impact, deforming momentarily and then popping back to shape. Melissa and her suit took the rest of the force with only a slight flinch.

Wingspan switched to falcon wings to dodge the attacks with a quick dive. Then she returned to hummingbird wings, gaining enough altitude to be out of the cannons' range. She flipped back to the condor's wings, gliding forward a bit faster than than before.

Another dodgeball exploded when Melissa blocked it. The laughing gas couldn't penetrate her helmet, and the momentary smokescreen didn't slow her down, either.

"Tsk," Bakugou clicked his tongue as Melissa deflected two more attacks without slowing. His classmates could still see the ghost of the black eye one of the dodgeballs had given him yesterday.


None of the other second years were able to catch up. As Asui-chan had done to Hatsume-chan, a few tried to follow Melissa's course. Unfortunately, it seemed none of them had the Quirks or memories to match her.

Wingspan came in first, and Shield was a close second. It took more than a minute for the third place finisher to catch up. And he was only so close because his Quirk let him deflect the shots.

The thirty-two finishers were now gathered in their school swimsuits. They milled around the same octagon pool from the previous day. Melissa had left most of her power suit in her locker after changing, due to the previously mentioned incomplete waterproofing. Even if it weren't for that, she still would have forgone the suit; her school swimsuit didn't cover her limbs and the myomers would have chafed.

But the gauntlets and helmet were safe, and she was still wearing those.

Midnight was acting as referee again, but she had chosen a one piece swimsuit instead of the bikini she had worn to moderate the first years. Well, it was technically a one piece, but it didn't cover much more than the two piece had.

Mineta was literally drooling. Kendo extended one finger and poked him hard in the shoulder. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

"Good morning, my lovelies," Nemuri called out to them, "I'm sure you remember this event from yesterday, Ultra Water Polo."

A dark look passed over her face. Izuku, Todoroki-kun, and Uraraka felt pangs of guilt. Hatsume-chan didn't even notice.

Then Midnight shook her head and smiled again.

"Of course, we can't make it as easy as we did for the first years," she told them, "You will still divide into teams of four. Each team will defend a specific goal. If you score in another teams' goal, you get three points and they lose one. But the goals are about ten percent smaller, and instead of six balls, there will only be five. And to compensate for the decreased surface area, you must now leave your goal at least 75% uncovered, unless you are actively blocking an attempt to penetrate your goal. Also, if you can create any sort of permanent construct with your Quirks or support items, you are limited to one hundred fifty cubic centimeters of total volume. Permanent, or even just lasting for more than a minute. No giant ice blocks of growing a huge wooden pole for you."

She paused to take a deep, husky breath and then concluded, "Lastly, if any of you have the ability to take out an opponent without hurting them, go ahead. But if you can only do that to up to two players wach. And if more than one player on any team is out, that team or teams will no longer lose points for scores on their goal. And of course, no hurting anyone. Some jostling for position is fine. Any questions?"

Most of the second years shook their heads. And no-one said anything.

"Excellent. Ten minutes to set teams starts... now!"

"Does anyone need a goalie?" Melissa asked. And she was swarmed.


After the first four minutes, only the most arrogant or athletic students tried to score on team 7's goal. Melissa had dialed back her shields to a seventy five centimeter diameter. Partly because of the coverage rule. Mostly because it was all she needed.

Team 7's goal looked empty. But there was a lithe mass of blue in the water under it. Between the refraction of the water and her own subtle movements, it was hard to tell exactly where their goalkeeper was. As she expected.

"How can she stay underwater for so long?" Momo asked, "She can't have a huge air supply. Her helmet isn't big enough."

"It doesn't," Izuku confirmed, "It pulls oxygen from air or water, and feeds it into the helmet, and send the carbon oxides out. That way she doesn't need to filter for gases, toxins, or microbes."

"Clever," Yaoyorozu agreed.

A Hero Course student, his arms made of bronze, decided to take his chance. His limbs were harder and stronger than flesh. He closed in on the goal, paddling faster than anyone else. Keleawe, as he had named himself, leapt out of the water. He threw the ball overhand, at the top right corner of the net.

Melissa surged out of the water like a dolphin. Interposed her left shield, and tapped it lightly outwards.

"Wings!" Melissa called. The avian girl glanced back. And easily caught the ball as it lofted right into her hands. Then Melissa dove back under the water.

Another player took a shot from further out. Shield didn't even react. As her sensors let her calculate, the ball pinged off one of the goal posts. When it hit the water, Melissa snagged it, and threw it to one of her other teammates.


The match-ups for the the third event were posted. The second year Hero Course students were all referred to by their code names. Melissa, being the only non-Hero, was just called by name.

In the first round of the tournament, she was in the third match, with someone called Violet Knight. Since Melissa spent most of her time with her home class of 2-G, or with Izuku and 1-A, she didn't know who that was.

She did also notice that Wingspan was facing Keleawe in the last battle of the round. She wasn't like Hatsume, Melissa had learned the names of her teammates in the second event. And also Keleawe's name, since he was the only one to land a shot on goal against her.

She watched the first two matches with interest. And now it was her turn.

"Now, for the third match, we have the dark horse, the siren from 2-G, Melissa Shield! And her opponent, 2-B's cavalier of twilight, Violet Knight!"

At Mic's announcement, the two students walked out to the stage. Both were back in their gym uniforms. Melissa was again wearing her gloved armor, but not her helmet or the rest of her suit. Her opponent was a slender youth with short purple hair. Purple triangles and rhomboids sparked out of the corners of their eyes. Eyes which were, unexpectedly, blue. And nervous.

Melissa stepped into the ring confidently. Knight climbed the stairs more hesitantly.

"Ready?" Cementoss asked.

"Yes," Shield declared, tapping her armored knuckles together. Violet Knight simply nodded.

"Begin," the teacher declared.

Violet Knight held up a hand before Melissa could move.

"Can I ask you a couple of questions, first?" they asked with a soft, melodious voice.

"Sure?" Melissa agreed in confusion.

"You are the one who beat Advisory-sensei and broke her arm, right?"

"Uh, yes," Melissa sounded a bit embarrassed as she confirmed it.

Katsuki glared at Izuku. And Momo smiled at her older friend's reaction.

"But you are still taking Unarmed Combat, not Self Defense," Violet continued, their voice shaking, "Just so you can spar with Advisory?"

"It's not just so I can spar with her," Melissa's tone was put out this time, "I also don't want a B plus dragging down my GPA. And I want to get better."

That set the watching students and UA alumni tittering. A B plus average at UA was better than straight As at most other schools. And even getting a flat B in Unarmed Combat was considered difficult.

"Just one more," Knight tried to mollify Shield, "What happened to your helmet?"

"I don't need the extra scanning for a one on one fight," the blonde answered, "And it didn't seem fair, me having head protection when no-one else has it."

"Thank you," Violet Knight said gratefully. Then they bowed. Turned their back to Melissa, and walked quickly out of the ring.

"Winner, Shield-chan," Eraserhead announced in a bored tone.

Melissa blinked owlishly


Melissa's second opponent also had an ocular Quirk. It was the ability to shoot lightning bolts out of his left eye. Unfortunately, Melissa's gauntlets were as fully insulated as possible. If he had been able to hit her twenty or so times, he might have been able to heat up her construct enough for her to feel a minor shock and for the temperature to become uncomfortable. She didn't give him that much time. The boy was flustered when she blocked his first bolt. And scrambled when she closed in on him. It only took her a pair of punches and then a final kick to push him out of bounds.

The third round was a longer match. One of attrition. Melissa's opponent had a healing Quirk and halfway decent karate skills. Neither was enough to win against the Ranger-in-training. Together they were enough that the match nearly ended in a time out and judges' decision. Melissa managed to pin him, with less than three minutes on the clock. Cementoss determined the boy couldn't break out, the teacher declared it Shield's win.

Now Melissa faced off against Wingspan. The inventor was still a bit tired after spending what was basically thirty minutes beating on a heavy bag. The other young woman looked refreshed.

The duo eyed each other. Melissa didn't have any ranged weapons. Only her bow if she changed her mind and Morphed into Mode Yellow. If she tried to chase after Wingspan, the flier could easily put herself out of Shield's range.

Or 'eagley fly away', as Ashido punned.

On the gripping hand, Wingspan was not eager to get close to Melissa. The blonde was taller, stronger, quicker, and a proven close-range monster.

"Unlike Lump," Wingspan told her foe, "I can only take one or maybe two hits from you, before you knock me out."

"So what are you going to do?" Melissa asked, taking a step closer.

"I don't plan on surrendering," Wingspan said thoughtfully, "But I wonder, if I can avoid you the entire match, knowing I can't beat you... Would that be enough for the judges to give me the win?"

She grew her wings, and launched into the air. Then she circled around. Took off one of her shoes. And threw it at Melissa.

"What was that?" Melissa complained, knocking the 'weapon' away.

"A show of offense," Wingspan argued, "And a protest, since they wouldn't let me use my knives or bombs."

Then she dropped her other shoe. Literally, not figuratively.

"Support Course can bring items they made," Melissa said for the crowd, as the sneaker clanged off her buckler, "But Hero and other Courses can only bring Support Items that are necessary for keeping their Quirks in check."

"Exactly," Wingspan said. She retracted her wings, dive-bombing Melissa. Shield was worried for the other girl. But Wingspan withdrew her wings so she could take off her jacket. Her wings snapped back, this time the limbs of a raptor that hunted by plummeted. She slowed, and a meter above Melissa, threw her jacket like a net. Then she jetted back up.

"What was that?" Melissa repeated, chuckling, as she tossed the discarded clothing away.

"If I can't appeal to them by fighting," Wingspan preened, and thrust out her now far more obvious chest, "I might as well stand out another way."

She reached for her waistband.

"Leave your pants on," Eraserhead's annoyed voice instructed.

"I'm wearing spats," she protested. But she complied. For a few minutes she circled around.

'If my shields were detachable, I could try to throw them,' Melissa thought, 'But that would have weakened the structural integrity. I should have... No, no point in second guessing now. If I had worn the full suit, she's just fly higher. Can I rig...'

Melissa realized she let herself get distracted and was not paying attention. And that she could no longer see Wingspan. She heard something behind her. Another pair of breasts smacked into Melissa's back. Arms grabbed under her armpits. And her feet left the ground.

"Thank goodness," Wingspan sighed into Melissa's ear, "I heard that you can get lost in your own thoughts, but I wasn't sure it would work here. Did you know the gyrfalcon can lift prey about fifty percent heavier than they are? Not for very long. But they can do it. And that means, so can I."

Shield grimaced.

"I'll give you a choice," Wingspan said, "Surrender and I'll set you down. Or not, and I'll drop you outside the ring. But you might get hurt, since I won't risk getting too close to the ground and you doing some sort of martial arts throw. You have thirty... make that twenty seconds."

Melissa looked down. They were almost twenty meters up, and no longer over the cement platform. The grass would be a softer landing, but not that soft. Melissa deactivated her shields.

"I surrender," she shouted loudly.

"Shield Melissa withdraws," Cementoss announced, "Wingspan wins."

The bird woman descended, landing both of them in the middle of the ring. She held out her right hand. Melissa shook it.


"You can be proud," Tommy told Melissa, "You came in second, out of one hundred three competitors. All of the rest of them have had a Quirk for over a decade, while you have been a Ranger for less than three months. And you chose not to Morph to keep your secret."

"And mine," Izuku added squeezing her hand, "You know you would have won if you had Morphed."

"And you played it fair," All Might told her, "I am very proud of you for that."

"I'm not," Melissa pouted, "If I had kept my helmet, I could have seen her coming. Could have dodged."

"True," All Might agreed, "You should not have gotten so caught up in planning that you lost track of your foe. We need to work on that. With both of you. That said, in a real fight, Wingspan wouldn't have been able to just glide above you for minutes on end."

"Melissa," Izuku looked deep into her eyes, "Listen to me. In all the years UA has been holding the Sports Festival, no Support Course student has ever made it to the final match. You are the first. And only the second to ever make it to the top four. Business Course students have never even made it to top eight."

"That's something," she agreed. He pecked her on the cheek.

"And next year," he reminded her, "You'll be even stronger and faster. I'm certain you will win."

He paused and then mused, "Unless Nezu-sensei decides to change the rules."

Melissa gave him a crooked grin, and poked him in the forehead.

"If you're going to be like that," she countered, her mood mostly lifted, "I have to tell you, I'm very happy to be attending your class on Thursday and Friday, Midoriya-sensei."

Izuku blanched, remembering what he had gotten himself into.


Author's Note: How much of Izuku's lesson on Power Rangers do people want to see? A whole chapter? Half a chapter? Just the intro before moving onto the Internship Arc?