Chapter 6: Quirkless Club

[Third Person's PoV] 

Melissa looked at Tony shyly as she asked, "Why did you call me a princess?"

"Because you're wearing a shiny blue dress and have blond hair. When someone mentions a princess, blond hair and a blue or pink dress come to mind."

"I see... so are you really quirkless?"

"I'm too great to have a quirk," Tony casually said.

Melissa looked at Tony in confusion. "Huh?"

Tony just looked at Melissa with a smile. "We were born with so many wonderful gifts that our bodies didn't have any more room for quirks."

Melissa let out a chuckle hearing that. "That's the first time I'm hearing that. Did you make that up?"

"Nope, it's just a scientifically proven fact," Tony said confidently.

"Huh? Where did you read that?"

"It's scientific research I did using myself as the base."

"You need more than one test subject to make a hypothesis like that," Melissa chuckled again.

"See, you know about the scientific method, which means you're way smarter than people your age. Which also means you're too smart for a quirk. That makes two for two," Tony said, patting his chest with pride.

Tony then held out his hand high for in a high five, "Here" 

Melissa only stared at Tony in confusion, 

"You haven't seen a high five before?" Tony asked. 

"I have I just don't know the reason" Melissa said 

"Isn't it obvious I'm welcoming you into our little quirkless club" 

Melissa giggled upon hearing that, Tony then motioned his hand, "Come on now, don't leave me hanging" 

Melissa gave Tony the high five as Tony then nodded, "To being quirkless!" 

Melissa continued to laugh, "To being quirkless" she repeated 

"Hey, Anthony–"

"Call me Tony. Only strangers and people I don't really like have to call me Anthony."

"Does that mean we're friends?" Melissa said with an excited expression.

"You're being way too excited, girly," Tony said.

Melissa started pressing her index fingers together. "Sorry, I just haven't had a friend before."

"Woah..." was all Tony managed to say as he didn't know what else he was supposed to say.

"What did your parents mean when they asked again? Do you usually beat up people?" Melissa asked curiously.

"A bit. When I first started school, people quickly found out I was quirkless and started bullying me. And me, being the great person that I am, obviously fought back."

"But isn't that bad?" Melissa asked.

Tony slowly turned to look at her. "You're kidding, right?"

Melissa only looked at Tony in confusion. "Hurting people is something only villains do."

"Oh my god, you can't be serious," Tony asked. Seeing her confused expression, he sighed.

"So what, I'm just supposed to keep getting bullied and picked on my whole life?"

Melissa shook her head. "You get an adult or someone older to help you out."

"You sweet, sweet, innocent child. Is that what you want your whole life to be? Having other people solve your problems for you?"

"No..." Melissa muttered.

Tony nodded. "We are quirkless. This world is full of power, villains, and heroes. In order for our voices to be heard, we have to scream the loudest. In order for our actions to be recognized, we have to put in twice the effort. People bully us because they think we can't defend ourselves, because they think we'll amount to nothing. Do you know how we prove them wrong?"

Melissa shook her head while looking at Tony with expectation.

"We fight back. We make them think twice about messing with us." Tony then pointed up while lowering his glasses, looking at her. "We, who are at the bottom of the barrel, have to get our own hands dirty to reach the top. So there is nothing villainous about having to get your hands dirty and fighting against what you believe is injustice and what you believe is right."

Melissa had a look of fascination while he heard clapping behind him. Tony's expression grew plain as he turned and looked towards Jarvis, who was clapping his hands with a proud look.

"That was an amazing speech, young master. Absolutely amazing. I've been moved to tears," Jarvis said, grabbing a handkerchief from his side pocket and wiping his tears.

Melissa looked at Jarvis oddly and leaned in to ask, "Who is that?"

"My obnoxious butler who seems to have forgotten his place," Tony replied.

Jarvis knew Tony was only joking and just smiled. "Whatever do you mean, young master? You know my place is always by your side, protecting you."

"Yeah, yeah, then protect me in silence far away from me," Tony said, shooing him away.

Jarvis only chuckled. "So who's your little lady friend?" he asked, looking towards Melissa.

Melissa did a quick introduction, "Hello, I'm Melissa Shield, pleased to meet you."

"Ah, I see, you must be the host's daughter. Thank you for being friends with the young master," Jarvis said with a smile.

Melissa only shyly nodded her head.

Jarvis then turned towards Tony, "Congrats, young master. Now you have another friend besides me."

"You really have no tact for a butler, Jarvis," Tony said, shaking his head before turning towards Melissa. "Weren't you going to show me around? Last time you took me to a place full of trash; please let the next place be more pleasant."

Melissa smiled and nodded her head. "Come, I'll show you around some more," she said, grabbing his arm and dragging him along.

She started showing him the different rooms around the house. She also showed him her room, which was filled with gadgets and advanced books that looked too advanced for her age.

"What are you making?" Tony asked.

"Right now, I'm trying to make a pogo stick, but I'm having a bit of difficulty getting it to fit into a box form to make it easier to carry around."

"Have you thought about using collapse tech?"

"Collapse tech?"

"Collapse tech is a design concept that enables objects to transform into a more compact shape for easy storage and transport by using a series of interlocking segments that can slide into each other or fold in an almost origami-like manner. This way, you can reduce it to a fraction of its operational size without compromising its functionality or strength."

"I see… that's really interesting. I haven't really thought about that," Melissa nodded her head.

"You should come to my lab then; you'll see more amazing things," Tony said with a proud smirk.

"You have a lab!?" Melissa asked, a little jealous.

"Sure do."

*CRASHHHHHH*

They all heard the sound of multiple windows breaking. Even the windows in Melissa's room shattered as someone burst through them, wearing a black Kevlar mask. All of his fingers had some type of circular metal attached to them.

Tony put his body in front of Melissa to shield her from the flying glass shards.

"Look who we have here, if it isn't the target!" the masked man smirked. He aimed his fingers towards them, and they started to give off a red light as if charging.

Jarvis ran in front of Tony and Melissa and kicked the man's hand upwards, causing red laser bullets to escape his fingers and hit the ceiling.

Jarvis got into a boxing stance and started punching the man in the stomach before punching him in the face, causing him to stagger back.

The man aimed his fingers towards Jarvis and charged up an attack, but Jarvis, without hesitation, grabbed his hand and twisted it, dropping the man to the floor.

The man shot lasers from his other hand at Jarvis's foot, causing blood to escape. Jarvis winced before twisting the hand harder.

"Arghhhh!!" the man screamed as he heard his arm crack. With his other hand, he punched Jarvis in the stomach and tried to shoot him there as well.

Jarvis tried to grab that hand too, but the man used the opportunity to escape from Jarvis's grasp.

He tried to step back, but Jarvis stepped on his foot with his bleeding one and held him in place, continuing to punch him in the face until blood painted the bottom half of the black mask red.

Jarvis then grabbed him when he tried to retaliate and flung him out the window. As he flew out, he was upside down with a scary expression in his eyes.

'If I'm going down, I'm taking all of them with me,' he thought before aiming all of his fingers towards Tony and Melissa and shooting lasers that flew at rapid speed.

Jarvis, seeing this, jumped and covered their little bodies with his.

'Just like how I wanted it,' he thought as he fell to the floor.

Tony stared with widened eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing. Jarvis's body had multiple holes, with blood leaking from them.

Jarvis looked towards Tony with a smile as blood escaped his lips. "You're safe… I'm glad," he managed to say as he slid off their bodies and fell to the floor with blood pooling everywhere.

"..."

"Jarvis?" Tony asked, his hands shaking and his eyes still wide.

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