Chapter 106: A Shield's Work
Taking a deep breath of the fresh mountain air, Morrison couldn't help but admire the scenery before him. The Colorado Rocky Mountain National Park was a beautiful thing. Large lush forests covered the mountains, their trees standing tall and proud while the aptly named Bear Lake's waters glistened in the sunlight. And all mixed with a warm May breeze. This was everything Morrison needed.
Officially, the 88th President came to the park for a campaign stunt, and 2284 was an election year after all. He'd take a few photos with park rangers, reaffirm his support for the country's national parks, and give a small speech discussing the importance of protecting the environment. Unofficially, though, he just wanted to get out of the White House. Morrison just couldn't stand being cooped up there for another hour. It had been nothing but meetings, interviews, speeches, and just… it drove him mad.
And on top of all of that, there was still the issue of the MSF. Morrison had done everything possible to reach out to them in the hopes of building good relations. And… well, it felt childish to say, but they'd left him on read. They had talks over foreign aid reaching Japan, and then nothing. It was a tad bit worrying, but Morrison remained confident. Until a meeting was arranged, however, he'd be out here, trying to ignore the chaos of Washington.
Of course, there was still one issue he couldn't escape. One that slowly became more prevalent to Morrison. And that issue was the small crowd of secret service agents surrounding him. He was pretty sure they had a sniper hiding in the trees somewhere.
"Matthews, is this really necessary?" Morrison questioned, as he turned to the agent in question. Standing off to Morrison's right, and continually staring down every tree in sight, Agent Matthews simply nodded.
"Just following procedure, Mr. President," Matthew replied, the ex-hero's gaze continuing to shift about. Internally, Morrison groaned. The Secret Service practically watched him like a hawk. No matter the event, Morrison couldn't escape them. It seemed fine at first, having private security at all times was a blessing. But it became annoying when they wouldn't so much as let him fish, without a dozen armed guards.
"I don't think you're going to find any assassins here," Morrison pointed out, before spotting a fox squirrel climbing above them, "Unless you mean that particularly vicious squirrel."
It earned a snicker from Matthews, though as Morrison turned back to face the agent, his face was back to its calm, stoic expression.
"To think your father was more manageable," Matthews muttered, with Morrison rolling his eyes. Matthews wasn't entirely wrong, though. Alan Morrison Sr, the 84th President of the United States, had been a rather different person compared to his son. Morrison's father was an ex-hero like Matthews. So for a time, the older man had a rather go-getter attitude. Which meant his presidency had been… well, not bad. He was an ok President.
He managed to get stronger legislation protecting mutant rights passed, had the tax code updated, etc. But… Well, Alan Morrison Sr's term was plain chaotic. Like a raging bull in a chinashop. It was like a horrifying mix of Ronald Reagan and Franklin Roosevelt. He was as likely to declare a fourth war on drugs as he was to declare another New Deal. If political opponents didn't support his policies, he'd challenge them to a boxing match. In comparison, Alan Morrison Jr. was… honestly the polar opposite.
Morrison became a politician, not for want of power or political aspirations, but because he needed a job. His only goal in life was to make enough money to support himself, and then… I don't know, disappear into the Rockies. Or live on an Island off Florida, whichever was nicer. Appalachia also sounded good, the Alaskan wilderness could also work- nope, getting off track here. The point was it didn't have to be a ludicrous amount of money, just enough to live off. No accruing billions of dollars for some mega mansion. No building a new political era. No more business, no more politics, just him and some nice view in the middle of nowhere.
So with his father's overwhelming reputation backing him, he became a Representative for Colorado at 21. At age 31, he moved on to the Senate and was pretty much content with things. He didn't particularly like politics, but he also didn't like any of the candidates running to replace him. And since he still needed work, he kept running. But then the 2280 election happened. For whatever reason Morrison's party put him as a candidate for the presidency.
Morrison did not want the role. He did not like the role. But his entire political party and his family slowly pressured him into it. And in 2281, at age 37, he was sworn in as President. Much to his chagrin. Now, ignoring the whole spiel of the military's decline and whatnot, Morrison hadn't actually done much in his current term. He didn't have the same ludicrous go-getterness his father had, so his term was the exact opposite of Morrison Sr.'s. It was calm and uneventful. Likely, he'd be one of the many Presidents history forgets, if only because nothing happened.
Or at least it was calm and uneventful. The point was that compared to his father, Morrison was rather different. Morrison Sr. lived for all the political fighting and the tense meetings where no one would compromise or bend. Morrison Jr… yeah no again, he'd rather disappear into the Rockies. And when it came to the Secret Service, Morrison Sr. tended to either let them do their job, or kick the ass of any would be assassin by himself. Meanwhile, Morrison Jr, whenever possible, tended to avoid his security details how ever he could.
He wouldn't try anything in the middle of New York City or something. But here in the middle of nowhere, with practically no one else around and few security threats, well, one wouldn't blame him for wanting seclusion. Yet no matter what, they just wouldn't leave.
"Can't blame a man for wanting some peace," Morrison muttered, watching as the agents continued to shift in place. At the same time, he spotted a large stick on the ground. It was long and thick like a staff. Carefully, Morrison picked it up, feeling its weight in his hand.
"Besides, I'm sure all of you could deal with a break-" Morrison continued, before a voice called out to him.
"Mr President!" the voice yelled, with Morrison turning toward the source. In seconds, the Secret Service scrambled around him, seemingly ready for anything to happen. Instead, all they found was his assistant, walking toward them with a phone next to his ear.
"Word from Washington. The MSF has agreed to a meeting," the assistant explained, while the Secret Service agents began to calm down. Morrison, however, froze once he heard the assistant's message. After all this time, the MSF finally wanted to talk. Morrison couldn't help but feel giddy at the idea. This was exactly what the country needed. The US government would get answers to a mountain of questions, rearmament would be made ten times easier, and talks could be held discussing the issue of the cult.
"When?" Morrison quickly asked, with his assistant listening to his phone for a second.
"This Monday. They agreed on one o'clock," the assistant replied, with Morrison tapping the large stick in his hand.
"Well, let's go then!" Morrison suddenly exclaimed, before rapidly walking away from the group. It was followed by a mix of cries from his security, as Matthews tried to keep up.
You know, it wasn't often Nagant decided to spoil herself. But today, she just had a very strong craving for ice cream. So as she watched children play in a nearby playground, the warm African sun shining down on her, Nagant began to savor her icy treat. Sitting outside a small shop, the ex-hero could hear the entirety of Mgbaba bustle about. Hundreds of people walked by, minding their own business, while hundreds of cars drove about the city's streets.
Nearby snack vendors loudly boasted about their foods, and crowds of people swarmed them for an early lunch. It was all mixed together by the sounds of children's laughter, the squawk of birds, and the crash of the waves from the beach. And as it all happened, Nagant quietly licked the ice cream off her spoon. She hadn't chosen any unique flavor, just plain vanilla. But it tasted divine to her anyway.
Moving to take another bite, Nagant spotted a small lizard running up her table's leg. She didn't know what it was, but it looked like a baby chameleon. Rather quickly, the small creature rushed to the top of the table, before sitting down. It was somewhat odd, but not entirely unexpected. Chameleons had lived around Mgbaba for years. Over time the city's people began to throw out snacks to the small animals.
With the constant snacks, the animals learned to start following people for food, and slowly began popping up all over town. With a small chuckle, Nagant watched as the animal eyed her.
"Well, hello little guy," she muttered jokingly, taking another bite from her ice cream. Curiously, the animal eyed the spoon in her hand, before its gaze shifted to her bowl. Slowly, the animal began moving toward her ice cream. Once close enough, it jumped and landed into the bowl. Now it sat, right on top of her ice cream.
"Coming to cool off, are we?" Nagant now grumbled, finding her treat unsavory. Carefully, she pushed it back, annoyed with what had occurred.
"Ah, guess you can have the rest of it," she muttered, before turning her gaze back to the park. It was a rather complex park, having a playground more akin to a small theme park. It was shockingly large, and gave the children playing on it infinite fun. Which was exactly what Nagant loved to see. Back when the MSF proper was in charge of Mgbaba, and not the city government, they'd spent an unfathomable amount of money restoring the place.
By Snake's order, millions had been spent on freshening up parks, just to ensure the kids had a safe place to live. And once the MSF handed control to Mgbaba's new government, the city had spent even more money improving everything. Schools had been set up, and began recruiting teachers from overseas. Public transit had been put into place, providing jobs for drivers and construction workers, while also giving the public easy transport.
Solar panels covered the rooftops of Mgbaba, with nuclear plants being constructed on the city's outskirts. Things had improved so much that money was now being spent, not on rebuilding old stuff, but on creating something new. It ended up inspiring a new architectural movement in the country, something called Bio-Futurism. Nagant didn't understand it fully, but most buildings with the new style looked organic yet oddly futuristic. For the organic element, the majority of buildings built with Bio-Futurism were mainly based on living organisms.
So one building would take on the shape of a maple leaf, another resembled a hibiscus flower, and a third resembled a chunk of coral. One building Nagant remembered was of a casino near the beach. It had been built almost like a palm tree, having long branching parts of the building's floor, supported by strong lightweight pillars made of some quirk-material that kept everything stable. Buildings were purposely designed to be unique, to stand out from everything else. It was expensive, but it looked amazing.
For the futuristic element, a good chunk of buildings had the stereotypical all-glass and chrome look. But it also had a shocking amount of color. Instead of plain and dull greys and tans, there were reds, blues, oranges, purples, greens, pinks, whatever color a designer wanted. It made the entirety of Mgbaba colorful and, honestly, just feel alive.
But it didn't just end there. The MSF had a habit of sapping other countries of their skilled workers. Doctors from Poland, engineers from Brazil, professors from Colombia, pilots from the Philippines, sailors from India and so many other groups from across the world were brought to Outer Heaven. And with them came their architectural styles. Near the city's north, a mix of Colombian and Brazilian catholics built up a Gothic-style cathedral, but mixed it with the colorfulness of Neo-Futurism.
Ignoring architecture, though, Nagant wasn't sure she could cover everything the MSF had worked on in the last five years, for just Mgbaba. With Dr. Strangelove's request, they'd started investing towards an e-government system like Estonia's, they'd invested in more clean energy projects, they'd invested in automating the fire department, agriculture, medical industry, construction, mining, and shipping, they'd invested in the city's rail lines, and practically a hundred other aspects to make it the city of tomorrow.
With that thought, though, Nagant heard her Idroid begin to ring. Quietly, she pulled the device out with a small hum.
"Hello?" she asked, answering the call.
"Commander Nagant," a voice replied on the other side, with Nagant beginning to tap her hand on the table.
"General Cobra," Nagant replied quickly, "Anything interesting happen?"
"One could say," the general replied, with Nagant mentally grumbling. Five years managing this frontline, and there could never once be an uninteresting day.
"Our boys down in Intel have reported odd troop movements to the West," Cobra replied, with Nagant slowly squinting her eyes. Quietly, she tried to remember what the frontline last looked like. For the most part, MSF forces had taken bits of Benin, Southern Niger, and a small chunk of Chad. For Chad specifically, they'd moved into the provinces of Mayo-Kebbi Ouest, Logone Occidental, Mayo-Kebbi Est, Logone Oriental. Though for Logone Oriental, they'd only made it to the Logone River before advances stopped.
It had been going well, so Nagant was somewhat worried that things had changed. Instead, Cobra surprised her.
"By the looks of it, the warlords are abandoning Benin," General Cobra informed, with Nagant's eyes going wide for a second. They went back to squinting quickly, as the ramifications of Benin's fall hit her.
"They falling back to more defensible positions?" Nagant inquired, and though she couldn't see it, she was sure Cobra shrugged.
"Maybe," Cobra replied calmly, "There was another possibility, however. Admiral Orca is telling me there's been an uptick in shipping vessels reaching the Horn of Africa, South Africa, and Guinea-Bissau."
Mentally, Nagant swore. The Navy had been doing everything possible to halt the enemy's weapon shipments. And they'd been successful for the most part. However, it was every so often that a ship would slip through or have civilians aboard. Leading to the warlords getting their hands on fresh equipment. So, this uptick in ships meant only one thing.
"They're arming up for another assault then," Nagant concluded, with Cobra nodding back in his command center. The major warlords had already abandoned the fighting, so the smaller ones on the MSF's borders were pulling back and regrouping.
"Any indication on when it may occur?" Nagant inquired, with Cobra shaking his head unseen.
"None so far," Cobra replied, with Nagant dragging her hand over her face.
"What about advancing into the rest of Benin? How long should that take?" she asked, with Cobra going quiet for a moment. Shouting ensued on the other end, as unheard information was thrown. Eventually, Cobra came back.
"Unknown," Cobra answered, with Nagant grumbling, "Most of the frontline is still littered with mines. It'll take us weeks to clear it out."
It was annoying, but ultimately expected. With a final order for all units to hold their positions, Nagant hung up. Quietly, she sighed and slouched back into her chair. For a moment, she listened to the chaotic, but strangely peaceful noises around her. Until the city's sirens began to ring. The loud noise played its haunting sound. Nagant's eyes shot open, and the sniper looked up to see people booking it to cover. Parents dragged their children into nearby shops or under park benches for some semblance of safety.
Quickly, Nagant ducked into one such store, her eyes moving to the sky above. Tracers began to light up the sky, with surface-to-air missiles and unseen lasers joining them in unison. And while it was difficult, Nagant's keen eye managed to spot the weaponry's target. At least forty ballistic missiles were coming in close. Some were shot down, but twelve struck the ground. Rapidly, Nagant moved to cover her ears, the explosion's loudly ripping apart surrounding buildings.
Dust and smoke flew up into the air, as screaming replaced the explosions. Charging out the front door, Nagant found the horrifying destruction around her. A block away, she saw a skyscraper begin to collapse, before the entire building fell. It did nothing but anger her. Missile strikes had always been common in the past five years. Especially once the HPSC started supplying the militants with Kheibar Shekans or Iskander missiles.
Normally the MSF had been able to shoot them down. The Navy and Air Force would intercept the majority, with the Army cleaning up whatever was left. But, launch enough of anything, and there are bound to be weapons that slip through the gaps. With a sigh, Nagant watched the nearby smoke rise before running out toward the danger.
When it came to support equipment, Melissa was not one to normally be surprised. There would always be gear that would break in some form or fashion. But as she looked over the polymer remains of Akatani's exoskeleton, she couldn't help but look over it, flabbergasted.
"What have you done to this thing!?" she quietly exclaimed, her gaze turning from Akatani and the small group of people he'd brought, and the exo in front of her. There was practically nothing left of the machine. Its limbs had been blown off, its spinal area was gone, and its jetpack was shattered. All that remained were bits of cracked polymer casing. Literally nothing else remained.
"I uh… got into a fight," Akatani meekly answered, while the teens around him chuckled. One boy with red hair even slugged his shoulder jokingly. Melissa could only shake her head, while Akatani nervously chuckled.
"Do you know how long it will take to get a new one?" he soon asked, with Melissa crossing her arms. It was difficult to answer. Most of the upgrades on Akatani's original exo were made by Hatsume. With her out, that meant Melissa would have to go through her notes. And… yeah, she did not want to deal with that. Hatsume was somewhat territorial when it came to her babies.
"Maybe a few days," Melissa cautiously replied, a few new ideas coming to mind, "Assuming you want to stick with the base model?"
That last line caused Akatani to perk up instantly, as curiosity took over his eyes.
"...New upgrades?" Akatani inquired, with Melissa slowly smiling.
"Had a few ideas in the air," she replied, watching as the teen slowly pulled a journal out from… seriously, where does he keep getting it? It made no honest sense to Melissa. But already he began jotting down notes, a million questions going through his mind. Before he could ask any of them, though, Melissa just had to point out the elephant in the room.
"Anyway, who're they?" Melissa asked, her eyes now tracing over the crowd standing nearby. Not counting Akatani, there were nine teens present. All of whom had a large backpack with them and were busy looking over the support lab around them. She quickly recognized Iida, and a girl with brown hair she'd seen back during the Massacre. Everyone else was a new face, though.
"Oh, they're hero course students," Akatani answered, before quickly gesturing to everyone present one by one, "Uraraka Ochako, Kaminari Denki, Jiro Kyoka, Hagakure Tooru, Yaoyorozu Momo, Ashido Mina, Asui Tsuyu, Iida Tenya, and Kirishima Ejiro."
Each name listed off was met by a teen giving Melissa a small wave or a quiet glance. One Melissa always returned.
"Well, it's nice to meet all of you, my name's Melissa," she told them, moving her hands behind her back, "What brings all of you here?"
In response, Yaoyorozu stepped forward, the girl curiously looking over everything.
"Well, we were hoping to acquire some new support equipment. And Akatani suggested consulting a… Dr. Soul…" Yaoyorozu stated, still looking around the room, "Is he here?"
"No, sorry. He left for lunch a while ago," Melissa replied, slowly shaking her head no. Rather instantly, the class looked at her somewhat downtrodden.
"I can help you if you want," she quickly offered, hoping to alleviate some of their worries. Cautiously, they all looked at each other, unsure. Iida seemed ok with the idea, having seen Melissa work before, as did Akatani. Eventually, everyone agreed, and Melissa clapped her hands together, ready to work. Swiftly, she began walking toward a nearby workbench and plopped down next to it.
The other teens followed closely behind, except for Akatani. Instead, he rushed for the lab's door. Why, Melissa didn't know. He slammed the door shut and practically barricaded it in seconds. Now the door was blocked by a large metal cabinet, one of the support lab's tables, and a block of tungsten. It seemed like overkill until the door bulged outward, pushing some of the barricade back. Quickly, Akatani pushed the door back, forcing it shut as something slammed into the door.
"Akatani, open the door!" Melissa heard Hatsume cry out angrily, while Akatani struggled to keep the door shut.
"Hatsume, go to therapy!" Akatani yelled back, nearly being knocked off his feet as she slammed the door again.
"I did!" Hatsume exclaimed, as Akatani pushed a steel bar through the door's handles.
"One thirty-minute session isn't enough!" Akatani loudly countered, the door again buckling. The entire scene left Melissa honestly shocked. She knew Hatsume was stronger than she let on, but this was ridiculous. As a final attempt, Hatsume began to shake the doors violently. They budged a little, but Akatani kept them shut.
"Let me in, let me iiiiiiiin!" was the last thing Melissa heard Hatsume yell, before she turned her attention back to 1A. No one seemed like they wanted to acknowledge the Hatsume situation, so they all stood around quietly.
"So, who's up first?" Melissa soon asked, pulling a tablet out from under the workbench. Turning it on, Melissa found an invisible sleeve reaching up into the air.
"Me!" Hagakure exclaimed, jumping up before anyone else could stop her. With a quick nod, Melissa brought out a small stylus for her tablet and scooched forward in her chair. Quietly, she motioned for Hagakure to go on, and the invisible girl… nodded… she thinks.
"I need help with my costume," Hagakure clarified, with Jiro snorting nearby.
"Or lack thereof," Jiro joked, earning a snicker from Ashido and Kaminari. Hagakure simply chuckled, embarrassed, but Melissa looked at them confused. What exactly did she mean by that, Melissa wondered.
"Ok, what am I working with right now?" Melissa decided to ask. Rather quickly, Hagakure began going through her backpack. After a few seconds, she placed a pair of gloves and boots onto the workbench. Melissa looked at the boots quietly, before her gaze went back to Hagakure, expecting the invisible girl to be going through her bag still. She wasn't.
"...Uh…This," Hagakure muttered, pushing the items closer to Melissa. The dots took a minute to connect, as Melissa looked between the boots and Hagakure. The moment everything started making sense, Melissa's eyes widened.
"That… that's it!?" Melissa cried out, confused, her hands outstretched toward the costume, "Your costume is just a pair of boots and gloves!?"
"It was the best I could think of," Hagakure clarified nervously, a weak chuckle escaping her lips, "My main problem is my quirk. It only makes me invisible and nothing else. So most costume materials are just going to make me stick out."
Which meant it was between keeping her invisibility, or keeping herself safe. It gave Melissa some small explanation, but… still. She expected clothes lined with velcro for a quick tear off, not going out nude. But she was the hero student, and Melissa was the engineer. One's skills were in combat and rescue, the other was in designing practical equipment.
"Something that works with invisibility then," Melissa muttered to herself. Tapping her stylus on the table, a few ideas went through Melissa's head. There were costumes made from hair samples, so that a costume could mimic its user's quirk. But that didn't seem like it would work in this case. If Hagakure's quirk was always on, because Melissa doubted she wanted to be invisible right now, then the costume would always be invisible.
There was probably some kind of a solution, but it seemed like far more of a hassle to deal with. Not just because she would be threading together an outfit with invisible fabric the size of a hair, but because it was just difficult to live with on a day-to-day basis. The costume would need a tracker to ensure it didn't get lost. If the costume was dyed to make finding it or putting it on easier, then Hagakure would have to wash the costume a million different times a day.
It just seemed like far too much work for anyone to deal with. There was however, a new idea coming to Melissa's mind. Slowly, she turned toward Akatani and found the teen still holding the door shut. By now, he'd put a padlock onto the door, and assumed it was enough. Only for Hatsume to push the door open ever so slightly, and break the lock with a different padlock. Clearing her throat, Melissa called out to Akatani.
"Akatani, could I borrow your Idroid?" Melissa asked, watching as the teen looked toward her. He carefully pulled the device out, but hesitated a second.
"Why?" Akatani asked, before chucking it toward Melissa. Carefully, Melissa caught it, and placed it onto the table. Turning it on, she scrolled through the Idroid quietly, opening up to one of the R team's databases. Akatani didn't have the clearance to access it, but Melissa simply entered a code and was let in.
"Dr. Soul gave me limited access to some of the R department's projects," she quickly explained, knowing Akatani would have a lot of questions, "There was one I remember specifically. It was… this one."
After a few minutes of scrolling, she came to a stop on blueprints for a full body suit. At first glance, it looked like the MSF's standard sneaking suits. However, it was in truth something else. Designed with newly developed E-textiles, small bits of wearable technology, the suit was supposedly able to replicate camouflage patterns like an octopus. While also having small ballistic-resistant fabrics woven into the suit, providing decent protection. It was still highly experimental, but Melissa was sure that with a few tweaks, it could be completed.
"I think something like this will work," Melissa commented, watching as Hagakure eyed the suit, "I could give it a few small color changes where needed, a bit of support in the front, as well as tweak the system a bit to reach total invisibility."
"Ooh," Hagakure commented, her face getting close to the hologram, "Can it be green and pink? Like a uh… a chartreuse green?"
Melissa nodded in response before pulling a copy of the blueprint to a small editing system embedded in the Idroid. Making a 3D model of everything, Melissa began to add a few small changes to the costume.
"Sure, let me just add a few tweaks," Melissa replied, swiftly adding some small bits, "Maybe a few stripes here and there."
Watching everything go down, Hagakure soon told Melissa, "I want to keep the same glove and boot styles, but maybe give them some small color accents."
To which Melissa nodded and brought the boots and gloves from her original costume, to this new one. A few more additions were added or removed, and soon the costume was done.
"This work?" Melissa asked, while Hagakure looked over her handiwork. So far the originally named Octocamo suit had been shrunk down to fit Hagakure. Its original darker color scheme was changed to a light, pale blue, matching the color of Hagakure's gloves. At the same time two stripes ran down from Hagakure's right shoulder, down to her left hip, and looped back around from the other side.
Both stripes were a pale pink and a chartreuse green. Around her waist was a small tan utility belt with a dozen or so pouches. To keep up the invisibility, it was made with the same material as the rest of the costume. And finally the boots and gloves were made thicker, more protective, and again designed with the same light mimicking cloth. The only thing missing was a helmet, but Melissa knew she could make it later. Now it was difficult to see, Melissa could have sworn Hagakure was giddy.
"It's perfect!" Hagakure cried out, excitedly moving from place to place as she looked the hologram over.
"Great, one down then," Melissa commented, copying the data from the Idroid and sending it to her tablet. With a few taps, she had her tablet back up and looked toward the rest of the class. Kirishima stepped forward this time, his costume pulled out of his backpack.
"Could I go next?" Kirishima asked, holding out his costume carefully, "I kinda have a similar problem with my quirk and my costume."
"How so?" Melissa asked, as she grabbed the costume carefully.
"Well, every time I harden my skin, I tend to tear apart whatever I'm wearing," Kirishima clarified, before giving her a small demonstration by hardening his arm. It made sense as she looked it over. His skin was shockingly jagged and sharp when he used his quirk. So the entire top half of his costume was basically nothing. His solution for the bottom half of his costume had thankfully not mirrored Hagakure's solution. Instead, it had overly baggy pants that wouldn't cling to his legs.
Now, baggy clothes weren't the most practical solution, they could cling onto things and end up torn. So there needed to be a different solution. Unfortunately, Melissa couldn't think of one. She tried thinking up some kind of shirt idea. But there were no materials stretchy enough to fit his quirk, or strong enough to provide actual protection. Maybe some nano-materials could work, but that would take time for Melissa to go through.
"Hmm… I'm gonna have to come back to this," Melissa told him apologetically, "In the meantime, we could try this thing."
Quietly, she swiped through the Idroid's databases again and stopped on one item. The Energy Wall All Might used during his speech. It was a decent little trinket and provided a shocking amount of protection. So while it wasn't exactly what Kirishima was hoping for, it could act as a substitute. Why a substitute? Because it costs an arm and a leg to manufacture. The energy-wall Soul had given to All Might was one out of two prototypes made.
Of course, 1A didn't know this, as practically everyone looked at the device with curious gazes. Each one read over the design's notes carefully, before Kaminari's eyes began to widen.
"Wait… is this an energy shield?" Kaminari slowly asked, his eyes getting wider by the second, "That's an energy shield."
Everyone's gaze quickly turned to Akatani, the teen still struggling to hold the door. It didn't matter to Kaminari though, the teen rushing toward Akatani and grabbing him by the shirt.
"You have an energy shield!?" Kaminari cried out, confused, while also shaking Akatani.
"What!? Since when!?" was the only thing Akatani could answer with before Kaminari stopped shaking him. His eyes turned toward the Idroid and quickly became as wide as Kaminari's.
"Oh, that's an energy shield!" Akatani exclaimed, only to regret it seconds later.
"Energy shield!?" Hatsume yelled from outside, again slamming into the door. This time she wedged it open far more. Enough for Melissa to see the girl's face peek through the door.
"Crap! You didn't hear anything!" Akatani cried out, quickly pushing the door closed. This time, Kaminari began to help him, yet somehow they both still struggled.
"Akatani!" Hatsume angrily cried out, again slamming into the door. Eventually, the noise began to die down, so Melissa got back on task. Nothing else could really be improved on Kirishima's costume. The red coloring could be a bit darker or a little more faded. The boots would be made thicker, and the odd gear shoulder pads would be removed for better movement. The only thing Melissa could think to add was a utility belt. Honestly, this costume was stumping her.
It was a mix of things that didn't need to be improved, or couldn't be improved currently. She'd have to come back to it. With that thought, Melissa moved onto the next student, and the next. Jiro and Kaminari's costumes didn't change all too much, mainly just being given some ballistic vests underneath their jackets. Though both did end up requesting some kind of exoskeleton to help them.
Iida came up next, and his was surprisingly easy. The majority of his costume's armor would be replaced with either better quality ceramic plates or stronger nano materials. Along with making a more slim and streamlined costume, so he didn't have to move so robotically. Asui was then up, and her costume was made a little less form-fitting. Since she wanted to operate mostly in water, the most body armor Melissa could give her was a plain ballistic vest made of a lightweight polymer.
The shoes were a bit difficult, it was an odd mix of a high heel and a flipper, but Melissa simply made the soles thicker near the rest of the foot. While keeping the flipper portions relatively thin and lightweight. A utility belt was added, along with a few more fins to increase swimming speed. Ashido's costume was given the same fixes. It was made less form fitting, the boots were given stronger soles, and body armor was added to the costume.
The main part of the costume was also made to extend past the bosom, giving her an almost turtleneck-like outfit. Now, Uraraka's costume was honestly a fun fix. All her costume needed was to be a little less form-fitting. Once Uraraka was given some air to breathe, body armor was added in between her costume's fabrics.
The high heels were replaced with stronger boots, her helmet was given a stronger polymer plastic and also covered more of her head, her wrist gauntlets were given grappling hooks, her back was given a small magnetic holster to hold onto tools, an exoskeleton like Akatani's and of course, she was given a utility belt. The gravity girl ended up having a lot of ideas that Melissa added on. Which left only one person's costume.
"Here you go," Yaoyorozu commented, carefully passing her costume to Melissa. Looking it over, she instantly saw a few flaws that were… worrying.
"Why is there a bookshelf?" Melissa asked, confused, while Yaoyorozu looked away, embarrassed.
"It… was for my quirk," Yaoyorozu replied, "However, I was hoping to replace it with something digital, or maybe smaller."
When Yaoyorozu had first designed the costume, it seemed like the practical choice to make. She needed information for her quirk to work, so she needed a large book to cover all that information. Mentally, she over complicated everything when there was a perfectly simple solution. One Yaoyorozu realized, immediately after she submitted her costume to UA. Slowly, Melissa nodded, though and looked the costume over.
"Which reminds me, my quirk also has some complications," Yaoyorozu added, with Melissa looking up from the costume. To demonstrate, Yaoyorozu popped a small Russian nesting doll out of her arm. Which Melissa quickly caught and looked over. Thinking it over, Melissa began to have a small clue how Yaoyorozu's quirk worked.
"I… think I can work with this," Melissa noted, before placing the doll down. Again, she began scrolling through the Idroid's database. Only this time she couldn't find anything of use. The MSF had shown her a lot of projects, but they hadn't given her access to everything. Disappointed, Melissa switched back to her tablet, and began thinking up something else. Slowly, an idea came to her mind, as she began to remember one of her father's projects.
"I-Island had some experiments with magnetic body armor," Melissa commented, quickly earning Yaoyorozu's attention.
"It is still new, so I'm not sure if UA has some," Melissa continued, now scrolling through her tablet, "However, with enough electromagnetic panels, you could have a kind of modular body armor."
If possible, it could tear itself apart, allowing Yaoyorozu to create objects with ease. The only issue Melissa had was figuring out how to get said panels. Of course, as Melissa thought this, she was forgetting one small detail.
"Do you have the panel's designs?" Yaoyorozu asked, with Melissa thinking it over. With a shrug, Melissa passed Yaoyorozu her tablet.
"Should be right here. Not sure how it helps-" Melissa began to say, before a slab of metal slammed onto the workbench. Looking up, Melissa found Yaoyorozu pulling a hexagonal-shaped magnetic panel out of her arm, and Melissa clicked her tongue.
"Heh, I uh… almost forgot about that," Melissa chuckled, watching as Yaoyorozu kept creating the necessary materials. Once there was enough, Melissa stashed it all in one corner of the room and got back to work. In the end, Yaoyrozu's costume was a bit more complex. She didn't want extra weight, so the magnetic panels were wrapped around her torso for more protection.
Her leotard was given a pair of shorts with zipper pockets on the side. The bookshelf hanging dangerously close to her spine was swapped out for two items. One being an Idroid gifted by Akatani, and in case of emergencies, a tiny booklet that could fit in her pocket. Her boots were swapped out, she was given a maroon colored bandolier with extra pouches, and the coup de gras, an exoskeleton like Uraraka. Though her exo was modified to have an almost robot arm attachment connected to the back.
What it was for, Melissa wasn't entirely sure. It kind of resembled a support brace of some kind. There was also an almost backpack-like object hooked on as well. Still, Yaoyorozu requested it, so it was added. With everyone done, Melissa slumped into her chair. There was a lot of work to be done, but Melissa enjoyed a challenge. Quietly the majority of 1A spread out across the room, just looking everything over.
Uraraka, Akatani, Asui, and Iida stopped by the large hammer Hatsume had been working on. Melissa had finished it in Hatsume's absence, but she didn't dare tell her. Carefully, Melissa watched as Uraraka picked the hammer up. There was a bit of struggling at first; it weighed a metric ton after all, but eventually Uraraka was lifting it like it was nothing. She gave a few clumsy swings before setting it back down and hugging Akatani. It was sweet… oddly sweet, Melissa noted.
When both teens broke away from the hug, Akatani just rubbed the back of his head bashfully, a small smile tugging at his lips. Of course, then something near Melissa caught his eye. Stepping away from his friends, he began walking toward Melissa. When he reached her, he slowly leaned up against the workbench she sat at.
"You know, I've got to ask, what's that thing?" Akatani inquired, the teen pointing out behind Melissa. With a glance over her shoulder, Melissa soon spotted what he was looking at.
"Ah, just a side project of mine," Melissa replied, her gaze turning back to his. The project in question was currently a pair of mechanical legs resting on a nearby workbench. Said legs were entirely hollow on the inside, yet all their exposed skeletal frames and wires made it appear otherwise. It wasn't a robot, but it was taking inspiration from a lot of the MSF's robotics designs. Akatani looked it over curiously, though, his eyes going from her to them.
"Rocket boots?" Akatani asked, with Melissa shaking her head no.
"Nope," Melissa replied, while Akatani got off the workbench and walked toward the boots.
"Hmm, prosthetic legs?" Akatani asked, now getting a better look at the machine.
"Wrong again," Melissa answered, a smile taking hold of her face.
"A bipedal robot?" Akatani inquired, with Melissa again shaking her head.
"Incorrect," Melissa replied, with a light chuckle.
"Alright, I give up," Akatani told her, now stepping away from the legs. Again, Melissa chuckled before she sat up in her chair.
"It's an armored suit, or it will be," Melissa told him cautiously, with Akatani looking at her quietly.
"...Power armor?" Akatani asked, surprised, with Melissa shrugging.
"I guess, yeah," Melissa replied, as she turned toward the legs. In her eyes, it was far from reaching completion. Weeks into development and she still hadn't completed the legs. Their wiring wasn't finished, their internal mechanisms were still being built, and the frame itself needed to be replaced with something else. It was a long and complicated project, but it excited her to no end.
The original basis had been built off the suit being developed at I-Island. Though since that suit had been under development for some thirty years, and cost more money than all of UA had, she decided to make it cheaper. Along with adding technologies she could find from the MSF. The energy wall specifically came to her mind as a perfect attachment. With all of these changes, it was likely the armor could take years to complete.
"That's incredible," Akatani muttered, with his journal coming back to his hands. Carefully, he began writing something into it, before laughing to himself.
"Guess Kaminari was right," Akatani commented, "More and more the world's becoming like Halo."
Melissa laughed at the words, but she couldn't entirely deny them.
"Well, the MSF already has some Cortanas, could deal with some Master Chiefs, to," she added, with Akatani slowly chuckling. He looked back at the legs, excitement clear on his face.
"Think I could ever use one?" Akatani asked, with Melissa shrugging.
"Assuming I ever finish it, sure," Melissa replied, with a soft smile. Again, they both laughed, before Akatani froze. It happened so quickly that it caught Melissa off guard. She opened her mouth, ready to ask what was wrong, until he held up a quiet finger. There, she heard Hatsume laughing to herself. The issue was, Melissa didn't know where the noise was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere, the crazed pink-haired mechanic rapidly moving around.
"She's in the walls," Akatani muttered, his eyes tracing over the room, "She's in the damn walls!"