Chapter Text
Melissa Shield, a fourteen-year-old girl found in the laboratory of her apartment, a laboratory that her father had reserved for her exclusively, and in recent weeks had begun to work on a personal project, she was not yet a student of the academy, but being the daughter of one of I Island's top scientists gave her access to more equipment than any of the other students could have..
Part of her was very tempted to undo her plan and tell her father that it had been a complete waste of time, that she just had to grow up and accept the truth, she was sure her father would understand and Uncle Might wouldn't either. they would have been disappointed.
But she didn't want to throw it all away so, since the doctors diagnosed her as quirkless, her father had made sure to support her in any way possible, introduced him to All Might and together they taught him that you could be a hero even without a fantastic costume and cool special moves.
And Melissa had accepted that, but when they moved to I Island and she saw all the magic of technology, she started to wonder.
'And if you could harness all of that into something smaller, maybe that would make up for the lack of a Quirk?'
The truth was that a big part of her still dreamed of being a hero like Uncle Might, able to save everyone with a smile, if all went wrong of course she would continue her life as she had foreseen for years, become a scientist like her father before her and specialize in Hero Support, but sadly her heart didn't seem to agree, it was beating a thousand times per second!
If this project failed then it would really be the end of her dream of becoming a Pro Hero, and she wasn't sure if she could handle the disappointment well.
But anyway now he had finished his project and it was the moment of truth…
IN THE MEANTIME
"So how are you really Toshi?"
Toshinori Yagi aka The Symbol of Peace All Might and his friend David were sitting in the latter's apartment, and had just returned from yet another medical examination that Toshinori did, they were both sitting around the living room table having a drink over a simple coffee.
"Until four years ago I could boast of having perfect health David, but now I have to constantly monitor my health" Toshinori replied bitterly.
It really hurt David to see one of his closest friends in this condition.
Toshinori saw David's sad look and hurried to continue.
"But anyway I got used to these conditions, and I can continue my work, it's not as easy as before but you know me David I know I can do it" Toshinori replied with a big smile.
David noticed that the smile didn't reach his cheeks
David was genuinely very worried for his friend, the battle against All for One had been tough for him, David honestly didn't think Toshinori would ever suffer such serious injuries, he had seen him win so many battles since meeting him that part of him saw him as invincible, but now here he was reduced to almost a skeleton and with both stomach and lung gone.
Luckily for both of us Toshinori was a master at changing the subject.
"Melissa is okay? When I saw her she looked very distracted"
This was a question she had thought of asking as soon as she saw her, usually Melissa would lunge with her Pogo Stick and lunge at him to hug him, but today as happy as she was to see him she also seemed worried about something, and it's she even ran away soon after we arrived at her and David's apartment.
Not that he really minded, Toshinori really wouldn't have wanted his surrogate nephew to see her like this, three years ago he wouldn't have needed to keep One for All to look big and beefy, but now...he was seeing too many times already around people's looks of pity and disgust on the street, when David saw him a little while ago with his current look without One for All active, he almost seemed to want to cry.
He really wanted to know what Melissa's reaction would be to his so…skeletal appearance.
"You noticed that too then, I'm honestly not sure what's bothering her, since we've been here she's seemed a bit thoughtful, then a few weeks ago she started spending a lot of time in the lab" David said
"It really reminded me a bit of you" said Toshinori thinking back to a certain memory that made him giggle
"What do you mean?" he asked as he drank his coffee.
"Your graduate thesis"
David's coffee choked.
"You swore we'd never speak again!" David was a mix between irritated and embarrassed, that memory he seriously wanted to forget.
"I'm sorry but when I saw Melissa I couldn't help but think about it, I had to carry you to your university" Toshinori starts laughing out loud at the memory.
David looks at him half annoyed, half happy to hear his old friend smile.
"Do I need to remind you of your first interview?"
"Hey this is a blo-"
BAAAAM
Toshinori, hearing the bang had already activated the One for All and was running where the roar came from.
That is, in Melissa's laboratory.
Once inside he saw that everything was a shambles. It looked like there was an explosion in the center of the room, and there was a big hole in the roof.
"MELISSA" All Might yelled in despair not seeing Melissa anywhere, until then he heard someone screaming outside the building, someone in a familiar voice…
__________________________________
A FEW MINUTES BEFORE
The time had come.
Melissa was wearing a suit that would be the envy of many hero costumes, a red and black armor with a helmet with yellow tips that was clearly inspired by All Might.
The armor was ready, and it was time to see if it would work.
Melissa decided to start with something as simple as a jump, see how high she could jump.
What Melissa hadn't figured out was that of course these weren't academy laboratories, these "home laboratories" weren't prepared for this kind of experimentation.
But then who would seriously expect someone with the materials with which these laboratories were supplied to build something potentially destructive!?
Until today.
Melissa decided to use 50% of her suit's power to see if it could work.
With a single leap she had broken through the roof of the laboratory and had ended up very high, and since her laboratory was unfortunately located at the top of the building... well the fall would have been much longer.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
Melissa was screaming at the top of her lungs, the ground approaching rapidly, when she then remembered that the suit had a flight mode, and that was absolutely something she was most doubtful would work.
And she couldn't believe it either, but it works, she was flying!
"I can't believe it works!"
She started flying around the buildings, barely dodging the buildings and once she was away from them she was able to admire I Island from above.
Melissa began to descend but when she was almost 30 meters from the ground the energy of the armor ended and she began to fall.
Melissa with her armor had formed a small crater on the ground, trembling as she took off her helmet, had made a big jump with her armor, had flown and survived a 30-meter fall unharmed.
"It fucking works, IT FUCKING WORKS"
Melissa suddenly started crying and laughing like a hysterical, her dream was achievable!
Something crashed behind her, she turned to see her childhood hero running towards her
"MELISSA YOU'RE FINE"
When All Might looked at Melissa, he almost didn't recognize her. Melissa always had a big smile, but right now her smile was one of the biggest smiles he's ever seen.
"I've never been better than this Uncle Might, now I know I can do it!"
"WHAT" the Symbol of Peace asked confused.
"I can be a hero"