Chapter 347: Debrief
[Third Person Pov]
"You bastard..." Tess glared at her, rubbing her ears with tears in her eyes, "Did you have to nearly burst my eardrums?"
"Hey, it’s not my fault you’re weak," Tony said with a casual shrug, not looking the least bit apologetic.
Tess stuck out her middle finger at him, extending it further with her quirk while keeping a completely straight face. Tony only laughed in response, clearly pleased with himself.
"Tess," Angel called to her in reprimand as she walked over, massaging her face which was still sore from the triple kick she had taken.
"What? You heard him, he was being a dick," Tess said defensively with a grimace. She tried to stand up, but her legs gave out, still affected by her disorientation. "God damn it..."
"Yeah, that’s going to take some time. I messed with your equilibrium," Tony scoffed when he noticed her glaring at him with open hostility.
Angel glanced around the room at their injured classmates before asking, "Does anyone feel like they need to see the nurse?"
"Maybe Vale," Rowan said as he teleported beside her with a soft pop. "With the way he took her down, I doubt she knows which way is up."
"I’m fine..." Vale groaned from the ground, staring up at the ceiling. "Just winded."
"He was all the way up in those guts, girl. I wouldn’t be surprised if all your eggs got scrambled," Tess scoffed as she shifted to get more comfortable on the floor.
Tony and Melissa both broke into laughter while Vale flushed in embarrassment. "Angel, please shut her up..."
"This is America! You can’t take my freedom of speech!" Tess exclaimed loudly, suddenly sounding overly patriotic.
"I got it," Lydia said simply. She rested on top of her bubble and sent another one floating over, enclosing Tess’s head inside it.
Tess immediately started feeling around the bubble like a helmet, her mouth moving in clear complaint, but no sound came out. She crossed her arms and sat there, pouting at being effectively put in time-out.
"Honestly, I think you dislocated my jaw. Did you have to hit me so hard?" Leonard asked, sounding irritated. He was using a wind blade like a cane to support himself while rubbing his jaw.
Melissa and Momo moved a bit closer as Melissa spoke up, "If you’re hurt worse than the rest, that just means Tony considered you a threat and needed to take you out quickly."
"Jeez, thanks. I’m flattered, really," Leonard replied dryly.
Tony smiled in an overly friendly way. "You’re welcome."
"I suppose that makes me the strongest," Vale grumbled, still not making any effort to get up.
Momo created another shirt for Tony and handed it to him. He thanked her, but instead of putting it on right away, he draped it over his shoulder.
"How are you so strong?" Malikay asked as he approached them, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at Tony. His magma armor, now cooled into brittle charcoal, began to crack and flake off, revealing his features. He was dark-skinned with short black hair and an earring in each ear. "The way you sent me flying was honestly impressive."
Tony flexed his bicep and kissed it with a grin. "Let’s just say I found a way to reach the pinnacle of human evolution. Not to mention, it wasn’t anything too impressive. It was just an application of physics, using weight distribution and leverage."
"Can I ask something?" Victor walked over, brushing his red hair back. "What are your overall thoughts about our performance?"
"Initial reaction? Your quirks are all pretty cool. Individually, you can be considered strong in your own way," Tony said.
"Individually?" Mandy asked, rubbing her neck in discomfort.
"Then what about together?" Lenny added, mirroring her sister’s gesture.
Tony didn’t answer right away. Instead, he turned toward Momo and Melissa. "You guys want to handle this? You’re the spectators."
"Your class has no unity," Momo said without hesitation. "You don’t know how to fight as a team. Maybe one or two of you do because you’re close friends with someone here, but aside from that, it was a mess."
"To add on to what Momo is saying," Melissa continued, "instead of letting your attacks complement each other and overwhelm Tony with numbers, you each waited for an opening before jumping in."
The two of them continued breaking things down, going into detail about what everyone had done wrong and what they could have done differently.
Meanwhile, Tess was rolling around on the floor, struggling to pop the bubble still covering her face. She tried stretching it apart with both hands, but it wouldn’t budge no matter how much effort she put into it.
Eventually, she shuffled her way over toward Anderson, the boy with the skeletal head, grabbing onto his leg while looking up at him with watery, pleading eyes like she was on the verge of tears.
He let out a quiet sigh. His fingers sharpened and hardened into bone claws before he casually popped the bubble.
"Yes!!" Tess cheered, pumping her fist in victory.
"You," Jaime said, grabbing Eric by the shoulder with a glare, "how the hell did you get so strong so quickly?"
Eric brushed his hand off without looking at him. "It’s none of your business."
Jaime raised a brow and scoffed. "So what? Now that you’re strong—"
"Him and Tony are cousins, from what I’ve heard during their interaction," Mark cut in casually. "If I had to guess, he’s the reason for Eric’s sudden leap in strength. It’s the only thing that makes sense."
Jaime let out an amused scoff. "Once a nepo baby, always a nepo baby."
A flash of irritation crossed Eric’s face, but he quickly suppressed it and walked away without another word.
"Whoa, is it true that you and Eric are cousins?!" Angel asked after overhearing. Then she hesitated, suddenly embarrassed. "By the way... can you please put on a shirt?"
"His father and my mother are siblings, so yeah," Tony said with a shrug as he pulled the shirt over his head.
Tess tilted her head downward slightly following his movements, trying to get one last look before the shirt covered him. Once it was in place, she sighed in disappointment and shot Angel an annoyed glare. "You and your big mouth. Why did you have to say something?"
"He’s taken, you know," Melissa said, glaring at her.
Tess raised her hands defensively. "Hey, just because the art has an owner doesn’t mean it can’t be appreciated. Art galleries exist, you know."
Melissa’s face twitched in annoyance. "Just what is up with this chick?"
"A lot of things," the rest of the class replied in unison.
"Heh, I quite like her," Tony said with a grin.
Tess placed her fingers under her chin and smirked smugly. "I have that effect on people. What can I say?"
Momo scoffed, side-eyeing Tony. "The only reason you like her is because she’s just like you. Shameless and overconfident."
"Heh, shame is for ugly people," both Tess and Tony said at the same time.
They paused, then turned toward each other before breaking into matching smirks. "Nice~" they said in sync.
Tony held out his fist, and Tess stretched her arm to meet it, bumping his fist.
The entire class groaned, including Melissa and Momo.
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