Chapter 40 - Back Again

The new year and some days passed; it was the day of Leo's and Melissa's departure. The two families were standing on a helipad, waiting on a jet that Leo promised would come.

Before it could arrive, David pulled Melissa aside to have a fatherly chat.

"You named your AI yet?" He asked, believing naming an AI is appropriate. They help you, and treating them right is proper manners.

"I actually haven't," swaying her body by her toes, "But what do you think about Nanny? It helps me and the nanites. Don't you think?" She double-raised her brow, proud of the unique name she had given.

"*Sigh* I suppose," shaking his head slightly with a smile. "Your control and discipline with the nanites have proven you're responsible enough to make decisions independently. So, your training wheels are off. It's up to you to explore its capabilities."

Hearing her Papa say those words, she hugged him dearly with emotion-filled eyes. "Thanks, Papa!" After a moment together, David made his way to Leo with a stern expression. An expression that he'd never used on Leo.

However, Leo wasn't nervous. He expected it. He was the one who convinced Melissa to come with him to the Academy, meaning he holds a resemblance of responsibility in taking care of Melissa.

"Leo." He started.

"Mr. David." Leo nodded.

"Take care of my daughter with the same weight you treat your Mother," David said, looking Leo straight in the eye. "You may be young, but I don't want to hear that excuse when you wrong my daughter."

Hearing this, Leo didn't rebut or argue. He was courting someone's daughter and out of their sight. Plus, David was reasonable in his statements. Leo looked to his Mom, then at Melissa, "I got nothing but family. I'd protect them even if it meant I'd be a villain in the story."

David smirked at the kid's response. "I'll be holding you to that, Leo," he said, approvingly patting Leo's shoulder. "And before I forget, here's a suit," handing Leo a thick metal briefcase. "It ain't fancy, but it's durable and practical. I want you and Melissa to improve it. A suit means so much more if made with pride and sweat. Now, I won't hold you long; your Mother seems to want a chat." Directing his head at Lucy.

"Thanks, Mr. David," Leo thanked the scientist. However, David never really corrected Leo's way of addressing him; Leo's way made him feel old.

Walking toward his Mother, he smiled. "You going to dish out some adult wisdom? I hope not; you're not old lookin' to do that," he joked.

"I'm not; I just want to say I'm proud of you," placing her hands on Leo's face, observing how much her son has changed, "He isn't here to say it, but he would, too; I know it."

"I know," was all he said; no other words were spoken. Sometimes, silence is enough to convey how a person feels.

Soon enough, a jet materialized out of thin air, stunning Melissa and Lucy. But it seems David isn't but actually expected it. Leo loaded their bags into the jet, and the two waved goodbye when the hatch started closing.

"Bye, Leo!" Her Mom shouted as she waved. While David silently smiled and waved at his departing daughter, a shy type.

As the plane left, she noted how the jet they rode on was EXTREMELY silent compared to hers. Hers was noisy when it was landing!

'Did I pack them lunch to eat on the ride? Hmmm, pretty sure I did,' Lucy thought as she walked away with David, ready to start a new project.

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Hours passed, and the two finally landed at the same helipad Leo left on. With them being on the highest point of the Academy, Melissa saw the Academy for its entirety.

The vast expanse of snow-covered forest surrounded the Academy, the many tall structures of buildings built for different departments, and a line of traffic heading to the Academy, probably dropping off their kids.

With it still January, Leo had to pull Melissa out of her curious gaze; the cold might make her sick! "Come on, Melissa, it's cold up here. Let's drop off your baggage at my dorm, then head to the Principal's office."

As they made their way to the dorm, Leo garnered gazes, which not only Melissa noticed, Nanny as well. [Multiple eyes are directed at you; Do you want to outline the entities staring in your direction?]

"Sure?" Melissa said, trying to figure out how to respond to that. From her confirmation, Nanny did the work and outlined the people looking at her. The result? A sea of highlighted people. To say that she was startled would be an understatement!

Uncomfortable with the looks given her way, she pulled at Leo's hands. Feeling a tug, he looked toward her, and seeing her uneasy face, he got concerned. "Hey, you alright?"

Melissa nodded, "I am, but why are so many people looking at us? It's unsettling," she expressed her worries. Leo now understood what made her uneasy. It was his reputation and status that attracted the looks.

"The Academy has a unique way of training students in how they handle popularity for Hero-course students. Like in the Hero industry, people vote who are the best heroes. And the ones who are the highest get the most attention. Do you follow?" Melissa nodded but already formed an answer in her head.

"The Academy has a Hierarchy-system, so to speak. It goes from Bronze-Iron-Steel-Gold-Platinum. The higher you are, the better your supposed strength and skills are." As he explained, the students in their path made a berth for Leo.

"To rank up, students challenge those above them. If the challenger wins, they swap places with the challenged student's current position." He looked at Melissa, and seeing her nodding, he continued.

"And I'm getting stared at because I'm one of the strongest and a Platinum-ranked student to go along with it. Many students have challenged me and lost terribly," he said smugly, with pride in his voice. This news made Melissa drop her jaw, 'He's that high up?'

"Then, when we trained against each other, how much of your strength were you using? Be honest." She wanted to know, not wanting to get caught like a deer in the headlights.

"Roughly around 10%. But don't be disheartened. You got an arsenal inside of you to work around any problem. I don't have that versatility."

"Anyway, to enter the Hero Course, you got to challenge someone at the Bronze rank and make your way up. This is to show everyone that you deserve to be here."

"Then what happens to the one I beat?" She questioned hesitantly. Melissa didn't want anyone kicked out.

Sadly, that's a possible case. "Then they will be forced to go to another department. If they lose to someone that had less training than them, then they deserve to be out. Easy as that. No offense."

"Uhm, I see... But wouldn't that be unfair?"

"No. No, it won't. That's precisely what happens in the real world, Melissa. New and young Heroes always enter the fold, ready to replace old and underperforming Heroes. This is just another one of the Academy's forms of training," Leo explained, not wanting Melissa to feel guilty about anything.

Melissa wasn't much of a Hero fangirl, and with I-Island being a somewhat closed community, you get less interested in those sorts of things.

"Hmm, that does help ease my mind when you think about it logically," she mused, observing the other students. But she saw something attached to them, some pins of sorts.

"By the way, are the pins on their collars their rank?" she asked, trying to gather information for herself to use. He nodded, "Nice catch. Those are indeed their ranks. Already scouting out the competition?"

"You can say that..." she whispered, deep in thought. 'Should I gather information? I feel guilty about this.' "Hey, Leo," trying to get his attention, and when she did, she continued. "Getting information on my potential opponents, is it fair?"

Without hesitation, Leo answered, "All's fair. As long as you don't harm anyone to gather information or use it to harm them, it's perfectly fine if you ask me."

Gaining confidence from his answer, she decided to go all out and not hold back. 'All I can say is sorry to my opponents.'

"Nanny, delegate some of the nanites to information gathering. Use the Island's database and search for robotics with surveillance capabilities and must be small," she silently whispered as she followed Leo, ordering Nanny along the way.

[From the I-Island database, there are different insect-type spyware bots, from flies to ants.]

Unsure, she asked Leo about it. "Any flies around campus?" If the campus had no flies, their sudden appearance could raise suspicion.

Raising a brow at the weird question, Leo answered without much thought. "Now that you mention, there actually isn't. Why?"

"Keep this a secret, but I'm planning to make miniature bots to gather information on the Bronze-ranked first-year students," Melissa answered, not wanting to keep it a secret from Leo. She then ordered Nanny to create ant-like bots.

Leo felt warmth in keeping a secret for her. 'Still, those nanites are broken, no matter how you spin them.' Looking at her casually walking, 'No one would expect her to be a walking armory.'

[Understood, releasing.] Nanny responded to Melissa's earlier order.

As they walked, each of her steps released an ant with wings capable of flight without leaving a trace or sound. [Any specification to the information?]

"First-years, bronze-ranked students from the Hero course, and anything to do with their quirks to narrow that down," she replied. Melissa wanted to play safe for now. She didn't want to underestimate her opponents and regret it later on.

Soon, they made it to Leo's dorm room, where she would be staying. It may seem inappropriate, with a boy and a girl sharing a room, but Leo didn't want the possibility of her feeling alone in such an unfamiliar place when she spent her whole life on the Island. Plus, Leo was perfectly capable of controlling himself.

Opening the door, "Well, this is my spot," Melissa heard and instantly surveyed her future living space for the next foreseeable years. "There's an unused room; I usually just use it for physical exercise when I'm too lazy to go to the gym," pointing to a closed door.

While going to it, she noticed how clean and spacious the dorm was. It wasn't for a single person; heck, a family of three could comfortably stay here.

Entering her assigned room, she noticed how it was already furnished. "Huh, it's already furnished? The Principal must've already furnished it for you," Leo said, following behind her.

"You need help unpacking? I don't have much to do," he offered to help, which she gratefully accepted. "I'd like that~!"

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After finishing what they had to do, the duo found themselves in the office of the Principal. However, Leo was told to wait outside since it did not concern him.

"Miss Shield, I'll only ask you one or two questions," Fury said, eyeing her seriously. He doesn't know her personality or anything, only her skills and background.

To answer his question, she nodded and sat straighter.

"Do you genuinely believe you can be a Hero course student in this Academy, and that your belief is based on actual skill and talent and not mere praise?" Fury didn't have time for people believing they're the next hot shit because people kept praising them to ungodly amounts.

He's already seen it happen so many times. Prodigal inventor, praised by the media. Years later, produces jack-shit. Next Number One Hero! Advertised by an underperforming school. Ends up dead after a week in the field due to arrogance.

Even with Fury's type of questioning, Melissa felt no malice from it. It was a genuine question, testing her personality. "I do," Her tone and answer were resolute, unwavering.

A simple answer. No bullshit statements saying they trained like crazy and all that nonsense spiel. Sweet words will never cover up a fake. And Fury saw this in her; she was serious.

"Good. You'll have a week to challenge someone for their spot. If you haven't, you're out. No chances left. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Now, call Leo in; I need to speak with him alone." Melissa followed and left the office to inform Leo. After she did, she sat and waited.

_______________

Inside the office with Leo, Fury was furious...

"Do you know what you just landed on my plate when you 'convinced' me to accept Melissa Shield as a potential student?" He 'eye'd Leo.

"Okay, okay, let's just call it scouting for talent, eh?" Leo said, trying to appease his pissed-off Principal. "Don't forget, you accepted it," he reminded Fury.

"Oh, don't worry, I remember accepting. That's because someone by the name of David Shield asked before you could inform me! And if you don't know, he's a major decision-maker in I-Island; you placed me in a tight spot to agree out of courtesy," Fury voiced, annoyed at the student in front of him.

Now that stumped Leo, 'I guess Principal only accepted over the phone out of political relations. But my opinion isn't wrong; Melissa is still better than most Bronze-ranked students.'

"You place me in that type of shit again; I'll make sure you live with an eye patch so I can keep both eyes on you. Dismissed."

Leo nodded and walked out to leave, but just as he was, Fury spoke. "David said he made some for his daughter to even the playing field. If it's true, then you poached one helluva student."

Hearing this, Leo smirked and left.

Fury pondered with him alone in the office, "Even the playing field with quirks... bold statement."

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CHEERS!

The next chap is about Melissa fighting! Finally, some action!