Chapter 37 - Obliterate The Target

"*Huff!* *Huff!*" Heavy panting resounded through the early morning, along with laborious breathing. Two people sweated and panted, one in pain, the other thinking of the gain.

"Ahh~! Leo, I need a break... *Huff~* It hurts!" Melissa groaned, forcing herself to move. Leo has been putting Melissa's body through the wringer, and when she stops to try and catch a breather, Leo thrusts her forward!

"Trust me, you'll feel good after this," Leo encouraged... however, he had repeated that sentence for the umpteenth time. "And I'm still waiting for that feeling! *Huff!*" All the shyness stored within Melissa vanished after weeks of Leo's physical 'exercise.'

That's right, Leo's been prepping Melissa's body for SHIELD Academy. Leo believes she can EASILY replace someone at the Bronze rank of the first-year Hero course students.

Leo has fought them through first-hand experience. To put things simply, they're shit. At least when compared to the Platinum and Gold, they're shit. And with Melissa's nanites capabilities, he truly believes she can replace someone's seat and slowly make her way to Platinum... maybe not Platinum.

But this is all possible through Fury. Leo had given a convincing sales pitch to the principal when the daughter of one of the most distinguished support items inventors wanted to be a Hero.

As much as Fury agreed, the entrance still had to be fair considering Melissa's background, which HEAVILY smoothed the process. Hell, her mid-transfer in of itself was already unfair.

This is why Leo's training her; Lucy wasn't part of it since she trusts her son's knowledge of physical training, and Melissa didn't technically have a quirk for Lucy's assistance. Instead, David supervises and monitors Melissa's health and progress.

And when Leo saw Melissa's untrained body go from dainty princess to Olympic athlete within a weak, he called those nanites a hack. A literal hack!

He called them broken when he truly learned the potential of those nanites from David. When quirked or un-quirked humans train naturally, it takes months or years to have a peak-performing body. Why? Because everything is done naturally by the body. There is no fine-tuning at the level of the nanites that can develop the body properly.

But Melissa's? It was possible. She lacks muscle? Then eat more protein-rich food then let the nanites distribute those nutrients properly. Her muscles need strengthening but need days to heal? No worries, the nanites will manipulate the satellite cells within the body!

Melissa, in the week after Christmas has passed, has been training non-stop, even in the wee hours of the day. Only taking naps for her mental health. As long as her body has resources, she can CONSTANTLY train her body without worry.

Remembering what David said, Leo agreed nanotechnology IS a game changer! When others had to watch their diet, sleep, train in various types of movements to actually stress ALL the muscles evenly, and watch their health to create their ideal body, which will take years, Melissa can casually ride a jet while others walk!

And all she needs to do is listen to the nanite's programmed AI.'s instructions to a T. If the efficiency of others is at 20% for training, then she can easily take 100%, and no one can argue. It was downright console commands, and Leo was exploiting that!

However, there is a caveat to that. Melissa's willpower and determination is the only thing that will hold her back and nothing else. So, whenever Melissa is about to give up, Leo will encourage her to continue. Christ, Leo even held her training back, considering he needed to rest! Leo couldn't just manhandle his body's control like Melissa's nanites could.

And not only that, Melissa's nanites are gradually improving her body from all angles: Skeletal, muscular, down to every known system in the body, you name it, the nanites will enhance it.

All this when the nanites are still at their training wheels phase!

But the weird thing is Melissa's appearance is still the same. Leo half-expected Melissa to beef up like Star and Stripe, yet she didn't. However, when he touched and observed her body with her permission, he noticed how dense they were when placed under stress. As if less quantity, more quality. Leo's muscles were a mix, but Melissa's were all quality.

And after all that, all David had to say was Melissa was only scratching the surface. Explaining how, at full potential, she can instantly create support items with the help of nanites and constantly switch to adapt to the scenario. Of course, that'll only happen when they solve the power source issue.

After the duo finished their morning jog, Leo told her that her body was in good condition to learn how to fight. But first, Leo asked if she knew any form of self-defense.

"You know how to defend yourself?" He asked, regulating his breathing, training it to take proper breaths and not spontaneous, quick breathing. As for Melissa, she was taking steady breaths; each breath expelled built-up carbon dioxide from the body efficiently.

His question was instantly answered, "Well, I can actively say I'm proficient with guns? Haha? But aside from that, not really. I mean, Uncle did teach me how to box once, but never really took on the sport," there goes that Uncle again.

"Then you guys got a shooting range that we can test out?"

At his question, Melissa's tired expression turned bright. "Technically, I do. Anyway, let's go; I can't wait to show it to you."

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Leo marveled at the array of guns neatly displayed behind an impact-proof glass pane. From what Leo can tell, every gun here is an original made by her.

None of these were on the market, and they all copied a particular style and theme, a sleek and futuristic look. They were arranged from the smallest 4mm to things larger than 12.7mm or a 50 Cal.

"You a gun nut?" He teased questionably. "Pshh~! No, I'm more of a support 'nut,' I guess? Is there even a term for that?" She responded with a giggle.

"Melissa Shield is the term, maybe?" Leo jested, at which Melissa scrunched up a pout, "I'll take that as a compliment, hmpf~!" Her chin is raised, and her arms are crossed. The two continued to banter before she walked over and pulled out what looked to be a gun almost her size!

'What the fuck?' Leo thought, 'If society wasn't so discriminatory on quirkless people, they would've seen this girl busting out an armory!'

Before, Melissa needed robotic assistants to help carry the experimental gun around, but now she doesn't. As she waddled with the gun blocking her view, placing it on a thick metal shooting bench.

*Thud!*

"Phew~! That was heavy!" Melissa said out loud, wiping her nonexistent sweat. "I like to shoot these guys when I'm feeling down... it's a guilty pleasure of mine, even Aunt Lucy doesn't know." Her face reddened slightly as she scratched her cheek embarrassingly.

She only learned how to shoot incredibly well because who doesn't like shooting with a gun? If you had the resources to build one too, why won't you give it a test run to see if it works?

And maybe Melissa had 'tested' out her creations far too many times to the point she became proficient with firearms. And no one questioned her testing; it was all in the name of science! As long as you aren't shooting at live humans, anything is fair game!

"Why don't you try this bad boy?" She gestured, tapping it like an ass, "The other guns would be too small for you." And indeed, they were too small for Leo.

With Leo's big hands, it'd be uncomfortable to practically fire a gun without creating a personalized trigger guard! And the assault rifle-looking firearms seemed like SMGs if Leo were to hold them.

"What does this do?" Leo observed the gun; its barrel was split in two, having space in between it. Looking at where the supposed ammo cartridges were, he couldn't find them. "And where are its ammo?"

"Oh! Wait just a sec," Melissa said, going to a wall and tapping a button. The wall hatched open a drawer; simultaneously, Melissa took out a cylindrical object with a pointed tip.

"This right here is the rounds it uses. A ferric Tungsten round, it's expensive, so we can only get one shot." Melissa walked to the gun and inserted the tungsten round inside.

"There, you're all set!"

Leo said nothing and moved to get the gun. As he quickly got into a stance with the loaded mini-cannon, Melissa corrected him. "Your posture is wrong; let me fix it," she adjusted Leo's posture.

"Huh, you didn't move much, but it feels a whole lot better," next, Leo aimed at a block of slag that looked abused by its numerous dents. "So, I just aim and shoot?"

"Yes... although... I would suggest crouching down. The recoil might be something else," she said, sounding as if she had not tried the gun herself.

Taking heed since Leo was no expert in this sort of thing, he crouched and aimed. Melissa stood behind a protective screen.

When he pressed the trigger, arcs of electricity formed around the barrel. *Crackle~!* 'Wait, is this a railgun!?' Leo thought before it shot the tungsten round at the solid block of slag!

*BANG!*

If a Church bell was rung beside Leo's ear, that would be how loud it was! The tungsten round impacting against the slag block created the sound of a ship's hull breaking!

The block, which was a good 50 meters away, now had a deep molten crater on its surface. The tungsten round seemingly disintegrated.

Leo, with stunned features, observed the once whole block of slag. 'Hmm, even my armored self would get heavily wounded from that.' He was removed from his thoughts when the rifle began to smoke, the smell alerting him.

"That round went at speeds of 6000km/h. Impressive, huh?" pride in Melissa's voice, but as soon as she saw the experimental rifle, it lowered. "Guess that should go back to the drawing board," she said and went to inspect it.

Touching the 'rifle,' she was pleasantly startled when the voice of her AI sounded.

[Touch to scan components.]

Curious about this new feature she accidentally discovered, she followed. [Scanning, please do not remove hand from the object.]

After a good ten seconds, a notification of completion flashed in her eyes. [Scan complete. Will give the diagnosis.]

[Excessive damage to the circuitry within the twin barrels due to overheating. Ventilators or placing a material that stores heat and can quickly be ejected is suggested for temperature regulation.]

Hearing this, Melissa saw how the barrel of her railgun was highlighted in red by her nanites. 'Huh, never thought I could interact with technology with my nanites.'

Seeing her stare intently at the smoked gun, Leo nudged her lightly. "You okay?" That got her attention, and she nodded. "Mhm! I was surprised that my nanites could highlight damaged electrical components." Leo shook his head, 'Might as well ask what it can't do,' smirking.

"C'mon! Let's test your skill with the gun; we only have a few more days before we're fetched to go to the Academy."

"Right, we should."

_______________

Surprised to say, the two learned of another feature the nanites had, but her movement was with delay.

During the testing, Leo suggested that firing live rounds at him had no consequence. As long as his quirk was activated, regular caliber bullets were nothing. He'll only start feeling them when a 50 cal is used.

So, with hesitation, Melissa shot at Leo's bicep to be sure. And with nothing happening but the clack of the bullet dropping on the ground, she breathed in relief.

Melissa was using an automatic rifle she made that she called, The Maddox. It has a sleek and modern design that is unique to the eyes. Its body is made of sturdy black material with accents of silver and red, giving it a stylish and deadly look. The gun is compact and seems easy to handle; it looked snug when she held it onto her body. (Search the COD: Mob gun)

As she held the gun, her heart raced with the type of training they would do. [Elevated increase in heart rate and breathing along with detected brain waves, are you about to enter combat? Answer for an instant transition to Combat Mode in the future.]

Expecting this but unsure of what Combat Mode does, she answered, "Yes, I'll be entering combat."

[Entering Combat Mode, please obliterate your target. Enjoy~!]

'Okay... I'll need to change that later,' she thought before being...

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CHEERS!

Okay, sooooo I'm here talking about the results from Hero names!

Apparently, Monarch and Spartan are the favorites! I'll host another.

1. Monarch

2. Spartan

3. Leonidas (It's his real name and connects with Spartan. I saw a suggestion of it and thought it was good as well.)