Melissa's hands hovered uselessly over the crude metal bindings wrapped around her father's wrists and torso. Up close, they were even worse than she'd thought—layered, reinforced, subtly humming with Wolfram's quirk. Not just shackles, but a statement: you are not going anywhere.
Her heart pounded.
Think, Melissa. Think like an inventor. Like Mom. Like Dad.
She had no tools. No gauntlets, no cutters, no clever little device hidden in her pockets. Just her brain—and a battlefield collapsing around her.
She glanced over her shoulder.
Izuku was barely keeping up.
Metal columns screamed through the air like artillery shells, embedding themselves in walls, floors, and almost him. Shrapnel tore past his face as he skidded, flipped, rebounded—green lightning flaring wildly as he pushed One For All harder and harder just to stay alive. Every dodge was tighter than the last. Every breath looked heavier.
He can't keep this up, Melissa realized with a sinking feeling.
Panic clawed at her chest.
And then—
"Midoriya already picked a fight, huh?"
Melissa whirled.
Denki Kaminari strolled into the room like he'd wandered into the wrong classroom, hands in his pockets, eyes wide as he took in the chaos. His gaze flicked from Izuku getting nearly impaled… to Wolfram looming like a steel god… to David Shield bound in metal.
"Oh. Hey, Melissa."
Now was not the time for normal greetings.
Denki tilted his head, squinting at Wolfram's mask.
"…Wow. Okay, that mask is actually kinda sick. Intimidating, but like—stylish intimidating. And the hair? Long red? Respect."
Melissa stared at him, mouth open.
"DENKI—"
"Oh! Right. Emergency." He snapped his fingers, finally clicking into gear. "You need help freeing your dad, Midoriya's fighting a boss villain, and I'm standing here rating fashion choices. Got it."
He turned on his heel immediately.
"I'll grab Jirou."
And then he was gone.
Melissa blinked. Once. Twice.
"…Did he seriously just—"
David Shield, of all people, let out a soft, amused chuckle.
"You've got very…interesting friends, Melissa."
She groaned, rubbing her face.
"They're usually more on point than this," she muttered. "Usually."
A second later, Denki was back—half-dragging Kyoka Jirou with him.
"I told you, we gotta hurry," Denki said rapidly, gesturing everywhere at once. "Metal restraints, high density, probably quirk-formed, Melissa's dad is super important, Midoriya's dying—"
"I can see," Jirou cut in flatly.
She didn't waste time.
Her Earjacks snapped forward, plunging straight into the metal binding around David's torso.
David stiffened in surprise.
"Sorry for the directness," Jirou said coolly. "You might feel some vertigo from the vibration, but you'll be fine."
A low, ominous drone filled the air.
The metal began to sing.
Not loudly—not explosively—but with a subtle, wrong resonance that made Melissa's teeth ache. Jirou adjusted her stance, eyes narrowing in concentration as she increased the frequency, targeting the internal stress points of the metal itself.
Metal fatigue.
Denki stepped in immediately, electricity crackling around his hands—not wild, not uncontrolled, but precise. Yellow arcs traced along the weakened structure, slicing cleanly through the compromised sections without touching David's skin.
Snap.
One restraint fell.
Jirou paused just long enough to shift the resonance.
Denki followed.
Snap.
Again.
Piece by piece, they dismantled Wolfram's prison like surgeons, not fighters.
David inhaled sharply as the final binding fell away, his legs nearly buckling as feeling rushed back into his body.
"Incredible," he breathed, eyes shining despite everything."Amazing quirk usage. Resonance-based metal destruction without transmitting lethal vibration to my internal organs—that level of control is extraordinary."
Jirou sighed.
"And the young man," David continued, already spiralling, "electricity truly shows its versatility in your hands! Even a simple limb becomes a precision tool, and your restraint—your ability to avoid inducing cardiac arrest—"
"Dad," Melissa snapped, grabbing his shoulders."Stop talking about morbid science stuff and restart the defence system! Deku's friends can't fight your security forever!"
David blinked.
"Oh. Right. Yes. That."
He turned—
And Izuku came flying past them.
He smashed into the far wall hard enough to crater it, coughing as he rolled to his feet, lightning flickering erratically around his limbs.
"Run!" Izuku shouted hoarsely. "He's almost—!"
Too late.
A forest of metal pillars slammed down where he'd been standing a heartbeat earlier.
The entire room shook.
Wolfram strode forward through the settling dust, coat shredded, mask cracked and reforged mid-step. His breathing was heavier now, irritation finally etched into his voice.
"Finally," he said, rolling his neck. "These annoying kids really are model heroes, huh?"
He adjusted his mask, metal flowing smoothly back into place, and then his gaze slid over the group.
Melissa.Denki.Jirou.David Shield—free.
"…Ah," Wolfram said lightly. "Two more kids. Hooray."
Metal creaked ominously around his feet.
"Could you not rescue the doctor?" he continued, tone almost pleading. "I need my money, and I'd hate to commit murder, y'know? I'm on a bit of a schedule here."
Izuku staggered forward again, planting himself between Wolfram and them despite his shaking legs.
"You're… not touching them," he growled.
Wolfram smiled behind the mask.
"Oh, I wasn't planning on touching you first."
The air tightened.
And somewhere, deep within the tower, systems waited—one switch away from turning the entire island back into a battlefield… or a salvation.
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[Auther: Happy days, happy days...Oh, the next chapter will be tomorrow, I'm happy so fast posting.]