July 1st, 22:00.
Times Square, New York.
Death metal concert.

The music sounded as loud as the public of youngsters and not so youngsters' yelling in ecstasy. The dim red illumination and the noisy people wearing leather and spikes, with tattoos, piercings and messy hairy heads only added a more sinister aura to the mixture. The leader and vocalist of the death metal group was a recently debutant Pro Hero, but out of work he was known as a pretentious jerk more concerned about fame, money and success than helping people. Right then, the guy was up on the stage, in front of the battery, the bassist and the guitarist, wearing long black and white long hair and matched makeup, dark leather trousers and platform boots with spikes, crimson suspenders over a shirtless chest and fingerless rock gloves, as he kept singing in a tone that made one wonder if he wouldn't be under a demon's possession.

"And I am here to save his life" the figure in silver and blue one-piece tight costume put on the reinforced with Kevlar mask and kept watching from the upside, on the gang-plank over the stage, where it was too dark to be noticed. The mysterious person had followed a notorious villain's trace until this new Pro Hero, who would be no match for the visit he was about to receive.

At that moment the singer used his Quirk to create mist on the stage as a giant demon skull with fiery eyes slowly emerged through an opening scuttle. Fortunately, the person in tights had anticipated it and the mask included an infrared vision mode, which allowed to see a tall male silhouette getting out of the opening mouth of the big skull and unsheathing a big knife to attack his prey. The moment of action had arrived.

"Well... I didn't dress like this for nothing".

The music genre was no stranger to intimidating figures and aggressive shows on stage, so the unaware fans only cheered louder when the noseless and Mohican haired man with a worn out blood red scarf and a bandage covering half of his face grabbed the young man by the neck from behind and took him away of their sight into the mist. The rest of the group kept playing thinking the dude "dressed" like the Hero Killer was only an improvised part of the show. But before the shocked Pro could ask for help he had been cut in the arm and and a lick of his blood was enough to paralyze him while he dragged him to the weakly illuminated backstage. Who would hear him scream during a death metal concert?

"Hey, if you are a fan, let go, you prick! I'll give you an autograph later!" the singer angrily demanded.

"Renegade, isn't it?" Stain asked in a cold voice. "What an appropriate name for such a fake of a Hero". The singer was new in the business, but Stain had watched freshmen like him all his life: always ambitious, fame hunger, trying way too hard to be cool and banalizing the concept of hero. Like the rest of his kind, he didn't actually give a care about innocent citizens and never would.

"Why the fuck can't I move? Are you the one doing this?" he asked, more unnerved than angry this time. "WHO ARE YOU? AND WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?! HELP!"

"Time Square has one the highest ranks of criminal activity in the city, all of it taking place at the present moment. And yet here you are, performing a pay-per-view concert..." a furious Stain stated through gritted teeth. "...while less powerful and underpaid heroes put their lives at risk for a society who hardly recognizes them".

"What are you talking about?! I am Pro Hero and a death metal star!!"

He threw him into the floor and crouched by his side. His saw edged knife would soon penetrate through the side of his neck, killing him quickly. After all those years he never took pleasure in making someone suffer.

"Are you insane?! Wait..." he then realized he wasn't just a crazy dude. "Is it really you...?" Renegade asked in sheer terror.

"I am. Stain, the Hero Killer. And you are just a performer. A true heroes' society should never have a place for you" Stain stoically declared.

Then, when he was about to give the coup de grace, his killer's instincts allowed him to turn just in time to catch a black stick that had been thrown from behind just on time before it crashed against the back of his head. Stain narrowed his eyes and carried his right hand to the grip of his katana as he looked around the dark place. The second time he wasn't fast enough. The person in silver and blue fell over him from the ceiling and was able to block the strike of his sword with an identical black stick before applying him a movement that sent him away from his immobilized victim. The Hero Killer, however, somersaulted and was easily back on his feet.

In front of him there was a slim and middle stature stranger wearing what looked like a silver and blue hero costume, with fingerless blue gloves, a white belt with accessories and a silver mask with big glowing blue eyes. Stain didn't remember having seen this hero before. No name or Quirk came to his mind, but it didn't matter.

"I don't know who you are," Stain narrowed his eyes, "but he's mine. And I'm in no mood to deal with meddlers" he pointed his long katana to the unknown hero.

"Odd. Aren't you the Stain, the Hero Killer?" the mask covered the entire head and made this person's voice sound distorted and unrecognizable. This person was smart and resourceful. "If you think about it, we heroes are basically meddlers in disguise".

"If you are a Pro, what's your name? I've never seen you before" he asked. This guy was probably another youngster who had just come out of the Academy.

"I never said a was a Pro Hero. And my name is out of the question... for now".

"Great. My savior is just an amateur wearing tights" moaned Renegade.

Stain contained a chuckle. So this would be another idiot who was playing the hero with no license or without even being registered. The State Of New York went too easy on these reckless kids and that led to many of them get injured or even killed. Good intentions protected none and his opponent was about to learn it the hard way.

"Don't try me, kid: stay out of my way and I'll have no reason to hurt you" that was his final warning. Sooner or later, the guys from the concert would realize the truth and call the police.

The stranger hung the stick on the back of the costume and took a deep breath before adopting a fighting position. It was a hero's duty to protect people in danger, jerks included.

"This has been your choice. You are the only one responsible" were Stain's last words before jumping into attack. The stranger had studied hard the moves of the Hero Killer and was by now a skillful fighter, but against a so experienced villain the best thing to do was to hold on so help arrived and Renegade could be safe.

"When he attacks frontally he's actually going for..." the stranger gracefully jumped to avoid what would have been a clean cut on one of... "the legs".

After dodging the three following attacks of his sword, the villain's big boot reached and immobilized the stranger against the wall. Judging by the weight and complexion it was obvious that the hero didn't rely on brute strength, but in that position quickly clicked some buttons hidden in the gloves and suddenly a new equipment appeared around the hero's wrists. They looked like blue metallic bandages and enabled this person to block Stain's blades and hitting him hard enough to make him go back and release the stranger. In I-Island, Full Gauntlets had recently been improved and adapted for people without superhuman strength.

"The Shields have a lot of passion for their work" the stranger gratefully thought. It was time to give back the hits. The powerful attacks were avoided or repealed by Stain, but that would keep him away from his victim. "Stain is self controlled and never loses his target. If he cuts me and ingests my blood the fight will be over". Stain jumped over the masked person and attacked from the distance with throwing blades and the last of them managed to penetrate into the the least armored gap of one of the costume's legs . "He hit me. The pain isn't big because of the adrenaline".

But that moment of distraction was enough. The stranger threw the remaining metal stick to his opponent, but Stain caught it again and this person had time to block his katana's backhand blow with the two Full Gauntlets, but the impact made the stranger lose balance and it only took two seconds to Stain to hit the head with the very same stick and cleanly cross the shoulder with the katana, nailing his enemy in the wall behind. The hero let out a high pitched scream.

"You aren't a terrible fighter" Stain admitted, face to face, picking some blood stains with the stick and taking out his tongue to use his Quirk. "But if you don't use your Quirk there will be no second round".

Struggling against the pain, the silver and blue stranger pressed a button located in the belt and the stick suddenly released an electric shock over the villain's right hand, making him growl and instinctively throwing the stained stick away. Stain looked at his smoky hand for the second the hero needed to take the blade out of the shoulder. "That may not hurt very much... but you won't be using your right for a while". Taking the shot, the hero threw a Full Gauntlet's punch towards Stain's face, but this time he applied a movement that knocked this person down to the ground.

"You surprised me twice during the same fight. And you are still alive. Impressive, to say the least" Stain said with his sword pointing to the hero's head.

"SOMEBODY! HELP!! He's going to kill us both! Why don't you use your Quirk!?" cried Renegade, who was still unable to move.

"Because he doesn't have one. Am I mistaken?" asked Stain without a trace of disrespect. The hero, lying upside down, clenched fists in annoyance.

"WHAT?!" asked Renegade in disbelief. "No name, no license... and no Quirk!? WHAT KIND OF HERO YOU EXPECTED TO BE!? ARE YOU STUPID!?"

"I came here to save you, you dumbass..." the stranger's heart beat with rage.

"One that acts against law... logic...and even nature... to save a person who doesn't deserve to be saved" Stain's answer was unexpected and made Renegade shut his mouth. "Quirkless or not, this one's already better than you... and anyone I have defeated before" he removed his foot from the stranger's head and backed down some steps. "Get up. If there isn't a Quirk you can use, I won't be using mine against you".

"The Hero Killer... is showing me respect and refusing to kill me in an unbalanced fight?" the stranger couldn't believe this twist of events.

"All Might... and Deku... they would do the same thing..." the stranger managed to say, getting up with difficulty.

"All Might and Deku, huh?" Stain looked pleased to hear those names.

"PRO HEROES! Drop your weapons!" it was heard from the distance in the dark, where multiple lanterns could be seen now. The Hero Killer used his daggers to make the lights go so he could easily escape in the middle of the shooting.

"See you around, kid" he said before disappearing in the dark. "There are few people who actually deserve to have a Quirk..."

It was indeed time to leave. There was no way of stopping the Hero Killer in that situation, but the Pro Hero was safe and that was everything that mattered. So after picking up the sticks the injured stranger took the stairs to reach the rooftop, from where it would be possible to jump to the next building and escape. It shouldn't be difficult...unless a male blonde figure in a red cape and the number 10000000 on his chest with Penetration Quirk sprouted from the ground and landed in front of the vigilante cutting her way. "STOP THERE, SIR!" Mirio Togata, also known as Lelimillion, demanded with a hand in front of the masked person's face. "I mean... lady" he awkwardly apologized, surprised to see the stranger's face. The unknown hero then realized in terror her mask was in Lelimillion's other hand. He had removed it when he appeared out of nowhere, so quickly she had hardly noticed. The worst part is that he would know who she was.

"Well done, Mirio! You caught... her?" Nejire was as surprised as Tamaki, who had just crossed the door to the rooftop. The girl wanted to die. That had to be the worst way of meeting the Big Three.

"Guys... let's take her out of here... and call All Might..." Mirio muttered, with no smiling at all.

July 7h, 17:00
All Might's office.

"Does that injury in the shoulder still hurt?" All Might asked her. He looked more tired than furious.

"Not anymore" answered Melissa looking into the floor from her seat. She was relieved Mirio and the others hadn't delivered her to the police. Even having saved a Pro Hero's life, she had infiltrated into a building and acted illegally, as a hero with no license. And being a public figure like Melissa Shield, that would have been an immeasurable scandal. "Listen, I had followed my own investigation and I knew Pro Hero Renegade would be the Hero Killer's next target. He would be dead right now".

"Hard to argue with that" All Might thought, but this was beyond serious. "You also could be dead now" he sternly reminded her. "And the only reason you weren't arrested is because some of my former students found you first. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I knew it was crazy! But..." her wet aqua eyes met his Uncle All Might's severe ones, and let it all out. "There was no time. The police wouldn't have reached him on time. I had studied Stain's moves and strategies. I have learnt how to fight for the last years and I know how to use the E-Expo's items better than anyone. Specially the ones I created."

"I want you to promise me you won't be doing that again" All Might demanded her. She was brave and smart, and it wasn't fair she couldn't save the world the same way young Midoriya and his friends did, but some things must simply be accepted.

Melissa stood up and bowed her head, knowing her father's old friend was unhappy with her actions for the first time. She then lifted her head and resolved not to lie to him:

"You can tell Dad if you think that's right. But I can't promise that. You couldn't promise that. And you know Deku couldn't, either".

All Might sat down and sighed. It was so hard to keep that information from David. But it would be impossible to argue with that last thing. Weren't himself and young Midoriya the living proof that Quirkless borns could make the best heroes? But Melissa's case was special and she didn't need to get involved into fights, since she was a hero in her own right, thanks to her innovative ideas and creations.

"By now, let's forget about it" All Might forced a smile. "I'm absolutely happy to see you after so much time. Not to mention to know you survived a fight against the Hero Killer. You are staying in Japan for a while, so I can scold you later. But seriously, this is wrong and must be talked between us. Anyway, now I want you to chill, meet your friends and get ready for young Midoriya and Uraraka's wedding, ok? Who knows if you will meet someone..." he allowed himself to tease her.

Melissa giggled and hugged Uncle All Might. She was also happy to see him again and felt really sorry for having worried him. But certainly, they would discuss that later...

End of chapter 11.

RIP My Brain.

Just kidding, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I have enjoyed writing it. It is different and it deviates a little from the plot, but since we are interested in character development, why not give Melissa Shield a shot to prove she can also be a badass hero? And what a better debut than fighting no other than the Hero Killer at a death metal concert! Maybe I should have made it happen on stage...🤔

Anyway, some more action was missing to me. Did you like it? Or you don't think Melissa should have done that😢😢? You can tell me your most honest opinions in the comments. This story is for you, after all.

Honest Fiction will come back soon! The moment every IzuOcha fan dreams of is getting close! Don't go too far!

Goodbye!!