Neo-Project Springboard
Story 1: Shibuya's Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman
A Marvel Comics/ Persona 5 Fanfiction
AN: Before I get this story started, please note that this is strictly a one shot, nothing more. You see, a few months ago, I started an anthology fanfic called Project Springboard, a series of one shots stories I would like to see on this site. However many of these ideas I either a) wouldn't know where to go with after a chapter or two or B) I don't have the time. Unfortunately, very few people took a look at the original incarnation, so I'm posting this as a separate story so people could take a look at this. The general idea is that I write the first chapter, or the gist of it, and then I would like somebody else to write the whole thing. Please be a bit on the brutal side with reviews as I have very limited experience writing M-Rated material.
Also as a fair warning: SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 5 APPEAR THROUGHOUT THIS STORY. This is so the story makes a great deal more sense.
Disclaimer: Marvel Comics and Disney own Spiderman and all related media, while Atlus owns the Shin Megami Tensei games and its spinoffs, which include the Persona series.
April 11, 20xx
Ann walked through the halls of Shujin Academy, worried about Shiho. That perverted bastard Kamoshida had really been pestering her about a date and to seal Shiho's place on the team, but Ann was pushing him back as much as she could. Before she could go anywhere, an assortment of vehicle parts flew down the steps, narrowly missing her. Ordinarily, one would be angered, confused, or even get frightened at the sight, but not Ann, it was all too familiar.
"Takuya, didn't you get into trouble already for bringing car parts to school last week?" She asked with a small smile and a laugh.
"In my defense, we didn't have a transfer student coming that already has half the school on edge, plus this is from my locker, I'm just putting it away." The boy said, nervously picking up the pieces he dropped. Takuya Yamashiro was a homeroom classmate of Ann's going back years, and was a great mechanic/ engineer. A real nerd, but a good friend. He was roughly the same height as Ann with stubby brown hair. Strangely however, Ann noted as of a few weeks ago, he no longer wore glasses. But what partially hurt Ann, was how hard Takuya worked. Something had happened, and Takuya's father was killed by a mugger a few months back. The only family he had left was his sister and brother and worked multiple jobs to help pay for everyday expenses.
"Don't tell me you believe those rumors Kamoshida's spreading?" Ann asked in disbelieve, helping her friend. Apparently some kid was joining their homeroom after he was expelled from his old school. The primary rumor was he got into some massive trouble with a politician and actually spent time in jail because of it. The rumors were he was a grade A thug who targeted people with large checkbooks, or something like that.
"No but with Kamoshida, its best I move quickly." Takuya pointed out. Susuru Kamoshida was an Olympic volleyball player, no joke, he actually won gold medals for it. So after his career, he became a PE teacher and volleyball coach, and the worst person in Shujin Academy. He abused his students, physically for the boys, and rumored sexually for the girls and constantly manipulated the other sport teams into disbanding. One of his best triumphs was over the Track Team. Kamoshida temporarily took over for their coach but abused them too. One student, Ryuji, stood up to him resulting in Ryuji's leg being greatly broken and the team disbanded. Unfortunately, Principal Kobayakawa refused to do anything about it, going to incredible lengths to keep it quiet with anyone. Despite his arrogance and methods, Kamoshida's coaching skills did get the Academy a few gold trophies.
"Speaking of rumors, have you heard anything about those breakdowns?" Ann asked, lifting up a box. The strangest thing was the locals of Shibuya were suffering from mental shutdowns at the strangest times for the past two years. The most recent, which took place last month, was a train operator who was operating a high speed bullet train.
"Only the most crashed recent was stopped by, get this, a spider web, a massive one too." Takuya said as they left for the student parking lot. "This local paper, the Daily Bugle is offering a mega sized cash prize to anyone who can snag photographic evidence of it." He reached his small blue and red pack rat car, and lifted the trunk.
"Then best of luck to you Takuya, you're great with a camera." Ann said with a smile, loading the box she had into the back.
"It would help, now enough about me, is Shiho doing ok?" Takuya asked, getting serious.
"It's hard on her really, but I know she's pull through, we both have too." Ann admitted reluctantly. Knowing she wanted to end it there, Takuya offered to walk her back inside.
Later that day, the new transfer student had already made a name for himself. One Akira Kurusu was already half a day late, along with Ryuji. Nobody was certain how it happened, apparently they were caught by the cops in broad daylight.
Takuya was packing up the last of his things in his car, when he heard someone screaming in fear.
"Let go of me!" The girl ordered. Takuya instantly recognized it as Makoto Niijima, the class president. Takuya looked over the fence to see some street thugs man handle her and throw her into a large white van.
"Shut yer bitch mouth, or a certain prosecutor will be down one little sister." One thug ordered, as Makoto was thrown in.
Looking around, Takuya turned a panel inside of his car like a safe dial, revealing a hidden compartment, and pulled something out.
The team of six thugs threw Makoto onto a falling apart mattress in their hideout warehouse on the docks. She was presently tied up, hands bound together and behind her back, while her legs were wrapped up as one.
"Start shredding up her uniform, we'll make that bitch back off our boss if she knows we got her sister in a very unfortunate predicament." The lead goon said, revealing a knife. Makoto knew what this was about, her older sister Sae was dealing with some big name goons working for the mysterious mafia boss targeting the students in hopes of getting his name at least.
"No please," Makoto begged horrified.
"Wrong answer bitch," the goon said. Just as he was about to make the first cut, a web line attached to his arm, pulling him up into the rafters. Just then, a red light with a black spider web design, as well as a pair of white eyes with black outline shined down on the remaining goons.
"Wow, so none of you could get a prom date, well now I know what my chances are." A voice quipped from above. Someone then jumped down and delivered a powerful kick to one thug. "I mean really guys, did you really think kidnapping some high school girl in the middle of the day near her school wasn't going to raise any red flags?" There was a fury of punches and kicks, disabling the remaining goons. Makoto looked shocked at her savior. It was some guy in a red and blue full body outfit, complete with gloves and shoes with a black webbing design and a fully covered mask like that light she had seen. Around each wrist were a pair of large silver bracelets which she could tell extended beneath the costume. Around his waist was a silver and black belt with a red spot light like belt buckle.
"You ok?" Her savior asked, going over and gently ripped the ropes off Makoto's wrists.
"Yeah, but who, what are you?" Makoto asked confused, as she rubbed her sore wrists and the man undid the binding on her legs.
"Little old me?" The hero said with a smile under his mask. "I'm your friendly neighborhood Spiderman."
"Spiderman?" Sae asked her little sister rhetorically. Makoto had called her sister and the prosecutor instantly rushed over. Naturally when Sae learned of this Spiderman character, she rushed Makoto over to the prosecutor's office to learn more. After all, he did interfere with police business, but Sae couldn't be too mad. After all, it did look like Spiderman stooped the bullet train crash.
"I know, not even I could believe what I saw, then after he made sure you were called, he created some webbing with his gauntlets and swung away, like Tarzan." Makoto explained, still nervous.
"If I didn't see this," Sae said, pointing to the webbing still covering the thugs as they were being hauled into a Police Wagon. "I don't even think I would believe you."
April 15, 20XX
For the next few days at Shunjin, everyone could only talk about Spiderman. Some claimed the guy was actually fighting supervillains like a street thug who wore armor based on a rhino. Another claimed there was a living sandstorm man roaming the streets that even Spiderman stopped. A third claimed he saw Spiderman fight a man in yellow and red pajamas that could shoot energy blasts from his wrists.
Takuya was sitting in class, listening to the teacher drone on while he looked as if he barely had gotten enough sleep. Case in point he actually thought there was a cat inside Akira's desk.
Ann was worried enough, but the droll day quickly turned south when everyone heard screams of terror. Many of which sounded on the lines of: "She's going to jump."
Instinctively, everyone charged into the hallways, ignoring the teachers in their vain attempt to establish order. On top of the roof was none other than Shiho. Slowly she lifted her foot off the edge of the building, and fell three stories bellow.
"SHIHO!" Ann bellowed horrified.
"Ann, go, now." Takuya insisted, seeing the already building crowd assemble around the barely conscious girl. The crowds in the halls pushed Takuya to the walls.
It took three hours for the teachers to get any form of control over the students, Ann went with Shiho to the hospital via an ambulance, while Ryuji, Akira, and one of the volleyball student Yuuki, went to confront Kamoshida directly as the other day Shiho was called into the man's office. Apparently things went down, sexually. Takuya didn't even want to think about what Shiho endured because of that man. From what Ann told him, Shiho was going on and on about her supposed uselessness and is what lead to her suicide attempt. The boys however were going to be expelled in two weeks' time for their harassment of Kamoshida. The PE coach was essentially getting away with murder, but for once Takuya wished he could do something about that monster.
"Great Power, Great Responsibility Yamashiro, don't forget what dad went through." Takuya said, gritting his teeth to the point where one chipped. As he glared at Kamoshida walking smugly through the halls, a brief flashback appeared before Takuya's eyes, as he regretted another time he didn't do anything.
April 16, 20XX
"Damn it sis, I'm going to be late because of you!" Takuya shouted angered, running frantically through the streets. His sister, Shinko took his car this morning because she had forgotten to fill up her own gas tank, again. Now, he was running frantically trying not to be late for school. Just as he was about to turn the corner, a rather large and burley man walked up to him wearing a tan, overly bulky trench coat, noticing the boy's uniform.
"Kid, you go to Shunjin, right?" The man asked somewhat rudely.
"Uh, yeah, why?" Takuya asked confused, getting a bizarre headache.
"Does this guy work there?" He showed Takuya a picture of Kamoshida.
"Yeah, why?" Takuya asked, getting worried.
"No reason." He said rudely. From underneath the coat's sleeve, Takuya noticed a bizarre silver blade. Takuya was grateful he went to sleep with his favorite pajamas on, he was going to need it.
About twenty minutes later, Kamoshida was watching the various peons walking into his school. It was just too perfect, he got away once again with ruining someone's life. Now in two weeks, that shit Ryuji, delinquent Akira, and his punching bag Mishima would be gone. Not far away, both Principal Kobayakawa and the tired looking Kawakami were walking up to start their day at work too.
"Is that Spiderman?" One student asked confused. Kamoshida looked up to see the costumed vigilante sitting on the wall of the school. The tears on his costume showed he had been fighting someone.
Kamoshida scowled at this stain on his school. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for a guy named Kamo-shit head, or something like that." Spiderman said agitated.
"My name's Kamoshida!" Infuriated somebody knew about his old nickname.
"Great, you need to get the hell out of here now!" Spiderman said sarcastically, then seriously.
"What?" Kobayakawa demanded angered. This statement seemed to wake Kawakami up too.
"And why should I?" Kamoshida demanded angered.
"Because the pigeon really hates you for some reason," Spiderman said dryly. Just then, a sonic pulse slammed into Spiderman, blasting both him and the wall nearby. Everyone looked to the sky seeing a man in a red and black armor fly down from the sky. He had silver bladed wings attached to his arms, while the upper part of his face was covered by an armored mask with a long bird beak like attachment.
"I told you, I'm THE VULTURE!" The man bellowed enraged in a voice Ann recognized.
"No, it couldn't be." She gasped horrified, instinctively, she ran forward. "Atsuya, is that you?"
"It's not polite to reveal secrets Ann, now beat it, I'm going to kill this bastard." The Vulture demanded.
"Ann, do you know this man?" Kawakami asked confused.
"Know him, he's Shiho's big brother, but I thought he was training with the Japanese Air Force right now." Ann declared. At that statement, Kamoshida suddenly got horrified.
"It's true, now DIE!" From Vulture's neck brace, a powerful sonic blast shot out. Kamoshida barely dodged in time. The attack slammed into the school, causing the front doors to shatter. The resulting blast caused the students to run in fear.
"Oh sure, nobody help the superhero who apparently has a concussion, he's fine." Spiderman said sarcastically, as he pulled himself from the debris.
"My little sister is barely holding on to life, because of you!" Vulture roared infuriated. "She would call me crying, hoping there was some way I could help her stop you, and then I hear she tried to commit suicide." The feathers on his wings then began to move back and forth like reciprocating blades. "Good thing I knew about this high tech prototype war suit huh?"
At that, Kamoshida dashed for his car, as the Vulture took after him via flight.
"So, would somebody kindly mind explaining why a very angry bird is about to decapitate that man, and my sudden urge to look the other way?" Spiderman asked angered.
"Nothing, nothing at all." The principal said quickly.
Not believing this, Spiderman turned to Ann. "My best friend, his sister, jumped off the roof of the school yesterday, because he sexually abused her."
"How does he have his job?" Spiderman asked Kawakami.
"Those were strict rumors about harassment, nothing more." Kobayakawa said quickly.
Spiderman then walked up to the principal and rudely demanded. "Who said I was talking about scruffy, fat ass?" Realizing he needed to hit something, Spiderman threw a web line behind the bald man and pulled himself away, intent on stopping Vulture. True he hated Kamoshida, but it was evident that Atsuya hated him more. All to the point where he didn't care who got caught in the crossfire.
Vulture finally caught up to Kamoshida, who had fallen to the ground, and placed his armored boot on the Olympian's stomach. "What are you going to do to me?"
"Shiho jumped off the school remember, and barely survived dropping three stories?" Vulture asked sarcastically. "So, maybe you should see what happens when you drop a hell of a lot higher!" A three prong robotic talon emerged from the boot, ensnaring the PE teacher.
"No, you, you wouldn't." Kamoshida begged.
"Did Shiho beg and you went through with it, right?" Vulture demanded, as he took to the skies. "How does it feel to be on the other side of things!" Kamoshida was dropped several kilometers above the ground, and began to plummet. But just as he was about to go splat against the pavement, Spiderman quickly grabbed him with his web slinging.
"This is just because you're not pretty enough to save twice." Spiderman said with a growing laugh. He webbed Kamoshida on a makeshift suspension wire made of his webbing just above a trash can. "And this is because you're an asshole." Spiderman quickly ripped away Kamoshida's pants, revealing his pink underwear.
"You bastard." Kamoshida shrieked embarrassed, hoping the laughing students bellow didn't notice the newly created stains.
"You, how dare you, he deserves to die!" Vulture demanded, floating back down. "He damn near killed my sister, and did something even worse to her."
"That may be true, ok probably true, but it's not your call or mine, no matter how badly he's hurt people." Spiderman explained, now clinging to a wall.
"Then let's play kill the spider, rule one spiders die!" Vulture said as a sonic pulse was launched from his neck brace.
"Rule two, ignore rule one." Spiderman quipped, jumping over the attack. "Rule three, make Vulture look stupid." Spiderman then delivered a powerful kick to Vulture's midsection, pushing him far. The aviary foe recovered, then launched an assortment of razor sharp blades from his wings. Using his webbing, Spiderman pulled himself away. However he was too slow in some spots, and got hit in the shoulder.
In pain, Spiderman rolled to the side, landing on the roof of a nearby building.
"Wow, that suit's got more tricks than I do," Spiderman thought, rubbing his bleeding shoulder. "But I'm willing to bet it has one key weakness." He noticed a lot of cables connecting to a unit on the back.
"HERE GOES EVERYTHING!" Spiderman leapt over the now charging Vulture. With a backflip, Spiderman shot a web line at the pack on his back and pulled it with his might. The pack was ripped off, disabling the Vulture's suit. This caused Atsuya to fall straight down. Quickly thinking, Spiderman shot a pair of web lines and grabbed him, just as he was about to hit the pavement. However the backlash did knock him out.
"Not even he deserves the coward's way out." Spiderman said exhausted, leaping away to change.
The police were called in to deal with the mess, and to cart Atsuya off to prison. Everyone had one thought on their mind, how lucky they were that Spiderman showed up when he did.
Well, almost everyone.
"I demand to know who or what that wall crawling menace is!" Kobayakawa demanded angered as he walked through the halls. Kamoshida took the rest of the day off after the fire department got him down. Fortunately he had called in a favor to avert media attention and rumors away from Kamoshida's involvement. So the official story was Kobayakawa's version, meaning Atsuya attacked Kamoshida on rumors only. Being that the guy did steal from the military, everyone took the principal's version instead rather quickly.
"Sir, about what this Vulture character said, how much of it-?" Kawakami began to ask.
"One more word from you Becky, and I'll reveal your part time job." The fat man cut her off rudely.
Meanwhile at an undisclosed location, a man was watching the events unfold through an assortment of monitors. From his back, four metal tentacles moved and began to interface with the computers around him. "Warden, it's Octavius," He said into his phone. "That genetically engineered spider you misplaced, I do believe I've found it."
May 2 20XX
"Did you guys get one too?" Akira asked Ann and Ryuji in a hushed voice. The other two nodded. You see, these three, and a mysterious cat like thing, stole Kamoshida's heart. On the day Akira first arrived to Shujin, he discovered the existence of an app on his phone he couldn't get rid of, which took both him and Ryuji to an alternate world, one where Kamoshida's cognition took place. Here, he was the king of the school, which he saw as his castle. The male students were tortured, and the female students were essentially bimbo concubines. During their stay, Akira developed a power called a Persona, a mysterious being he created from his own body. After summoning Arsene, Akira and Ryuji met Morgana, a strange cat like creature who offered to help them, if they helped Morgana regain his humanity. Supposedly, the cat was human, but they doubted it seeing Morgana became an actually cat upon entering the real world. Ryuji gained a persona after attempting to return to this palace, and revealed his true hatred for Kamoshida was him exploiting persona information. Ann had joined up almost instantly after Shiho jumped, and gained a persona herself. The other day, they found the Treasure, a massive psychic force that represented the bastard's sexual desires. So, by sending out a calling Card, the newly created Phantom Thieves of Hearts made the treasure real, defeated Kamoshida's shadow, and escaped. However during their final infiltration, Akira found a strange rock with blue runes on it. Not fully understanding why, Akira took it, somehow knowing it was important.
After escaping, the treasure turned into a medal from its crown form. According to Morgana, it's what Kamoshida saw as the most valuable thing of all. The process worked, and Kamoshida's personality did a complete 180. During an assembly, he admitted to everything, the sexual abuse, the torturous training, even the sabotage of other teams. So after a successful heist, the four were deciding on what to do for celebration. However the three teens went to their lockers and found something.
A note reading: Phantom Thieves, meet me on the roof at 3 PM, we have to talk.
So here they were, waiting for the person.
"Damn it, this is such bullshit!" Ryuji said, punching a wall.
"Sorry, sorry, I know I'm a little late," Much to everyone's surprise, it was Spiderman, crawling up the side of the building. "But it's important I talk to you guys."
"Spiderman, no freakin' way!" Ryuji shouted puzzled.
"Yeah Ryuji, it's me, boss's orders." Spiderman said, confusing the three. He then slowly pulled off his mask, revealing:
"TAKUYA!" Ann bellowed amazed.
"Keep it down, secret identity," Takuya insisted.
"Wait, how do you know we're the phantom thieves?" Akira asked confused.
"My boss told me, and she wants to talk to you four, yes I know about the cat." Takuya insisted, holding up his hands. Just then, a mysterious fog began to roll in. "Speak of the devil, that be her now."
The fog soon covered the five beings, as the thieves were switched to their Phantom forms. As the fog settled, the five were now in a black room with silver lights highlighting the area, arranged like a spider web.
"How is this possible?" Morgana was the most vocal about the confusion.
"Because this realm exists separate from the metaverse." An aged female voice said. Everyone turned to see an elderly woman in a red and black spider themed outfit, her eyes covered by a long red visor that seemed to wrap around her head. The lady sat in a web themed chair where a massive spider web seemed to show images of countless other cities, towns, and palaces.
"What, or who are you?" Ryuji asked confused and amazed.
"I am Madame Web, a clairvoyant of sorts, and there is very little I cannot see." The aged woman said, a ghost of a smile appeared on her face, then turned serious. "But my reason for my visit was not to congratulate you on your liberation of Kamoshida's treasure."
"Wow, you are good." Akira said, somewhat bluntly.
"My thanks, but my main reason for visiting, is you young Akira, for you found one of the fragments to the Tablet of Order and Chaos." Madame Web began, her tone serious.
"Tablet of what-?" Akira began confused, then realized what she meant. He reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out the stone piece he found yesterday.
"Wait, all this over a rock piece?" Ann asked confused.
"The Tablet of Order and Chaos is no mere stone child," Madame Web explained. She waved her hands, revealing another fog, this time it showed an image of the completed tablet. "The Tablet is an ancient relic made to counteract the Siege Perilous, a gem which gives the user the ability to travel to alternate Earths, and to ensure balance between realities, but in recent years, someone has shattered it, forcing the relic between this world, and the metaverse."
"So, you can see into the Metaverse, you know what we've been up too?" Ryuji asked, wanting to know why this lady couldn't have helped them sooner.
"Partially, my visions into the metaverse are limited at best, but a more pressing urgency has arrived in recent days, I have learned of another user of the metaverse, and they are responsible for the travesties that have befallen Japan in the past two years." Madame Web's response more than enough to freak out the Thieves.
"So, what you're afraid shadows will come into our world, or this other user getting the fragments?" Ann asked, trying to make heads or tails of this.
"Both I'm afraid, for my vision of time to come in the coming year is fading quickly, to the point where I do not believe our world will exist anymore." Madame Web explained, her tone grim.
"So what, we team up and stop whoever's doing this?" Ryuji asked confused.
"It will take more than us present to stop the coming threat, this much I can see." Madame Web explained. "In fact I do know of how you can find your next Palace target."
"Really, how?" Morgana asked excited.
"Find the secret behind Sayuri's fog, that will shed some light on a new ally." Madame Web said with a smile.
"Do you always give out hints in riddles?" Akira asked, not understanding the elder's clue.
"No she does, she really does." Takuya said exasperate.
"My time in this realm is growing short, but I must part for now Phantom Thieves, best of luck to you all." Madame Web insisted, as the fog vanished. Before they knew it, the Thieves and Spiderman were back on the roof of their school.
"That was awesome." Ryuji cheered excited.
"Ok now that that's settled," Ann began turning to Takuya. "YOU'RE SPIDERMAN!"
"Secret Identity, I just had this conversation with you." Takuya demanded in a harsh whisper. "But, yeah."
"How did that even happen?" Akira asked, noticing the tablet fragment was gone. He had figured Madame Web had taken it.
"I got bit by a spider." Takuya said honestly.
"For real?" Ryuji asked confused.
"Seriously, I was walking home near the docks one day, and a spider just bit me, I got my powers from it, and the web shooters I made myself." Takuya explained, noticing how close Ann got.
"Dude, so you've been a superhero like us, awesome." Ryuji said happily.
"Not exactly," Takuya said with a sigh. "I'm a superhero because I screwed up, and this is sort of my redemption for it."
"Redemption, you don't need redemption," Ann said confused.
"Yeah I do, I've had my powers for a while, and knowing how strong I was I tried to get into the wrestling circuit to help pay the bills, without the rest of my family knowing." Takuya began, tears filling his eyes. It was Madame Web's idea, if they were to work together, no secrets allowed. "But the guy in charge refused to pay me properly, so I looked the other way as a thief stole money from him." He shook his head remembering. "As he was escaping, the thief in question killed my dad who had come to pick me up from the library."
"Damn." Akira said astonished. Both Morgana and Ryuji were speechless.
It was here, Ann grabbed Takuya by the shirt and slapped him with her free hand. "That was for doing something so selfish and stupid," Ann slapped Takuya again. "That was for blaming yourself for something beyond anyone's control," Then she pulled Takuya into a hug. "And that's for saving everyone you could in the past few months."
"Thanks, I needed that," Takuya said with a smile, returning the hug.
"The slap or the hug?" Ann asked with a smile.
"Can I say both?" Takuya said with a laugh.
"Wait, why didn't you kick Kamoshida's ass after Shiho jumped?" Ryuji asked, realizing something.
"Same reason you guys had to go to the palace, he was too well protected by the principal." Takuya admitted, as Ann released him. "As far as the world would have known, Spiderman would be the bad guy for beating up a defenseless Gym Teacher, instead of stopping a serial rapist."
"Can't deny he makes sense." Morgana admitted.
"Holly hell, I can understand the cat." Takuya exclaimed surprised. The Phantom Thieves looked at the hero equally surprised.
"Maybe it's because of how Madame Web contacted us?" Akira suggested with a shrug.
"I am not a cat!" Morgana declared rudely, after recovering from shock.
"Either way, this is going to be awesome to work with Spiderman." Akira said with a smile.
"Just as much as I think it'll be cool to work with the Phantom Thieves." Takuya said with an equally large grin.
Akira opened his hand, allowing Takuya to take it. As he did, a familiar voice went off inside his head.
"I am though, though art I, though has acquired a new vow. It shall become the wings of rebellion. With the birth of the Jester Arcana you're sight has increased." The voice said calmly. Akira didn't know what that meant, but he did feel a slight pain in his eyes.
A few hours later across town, Goro Akechi, the second incarnation of the Detective Prince had just gotten out of his latest interview voicing his disgust of how Spiderman was interfering with police work. Many disagreed with his views, as several members of the audience said they were grateful he had stepped in when the police couldn't. Some even said his work was helping stop the mysterious drug lord.
"Stupid fools," Akechi mumbled under his breath.
"It's what they do best, I would imagine." Someone said with a slight American accent. Akechi turned to see none other than Norman Osborn walk up. Norman owed Oscorp, one of the world's greatest genetic lab, and was in town to personally oversee a new lab construction.
"Norman Osborn, what a pleasure." Goro said, accepting the man's handshake.
"Likewise Mr. Akechi, I must admit, your work is impressive, how many people died because of your last stunt?" Norman said, his tone firm.
"I don't understand sir." Akechi gulped confused.
"Don't play dumb with me boy, I know what you've been up too in the metaverse." Norman said flatly.
"How?" Akechi demanded infuriatingly.
"Oh, I have my ways, I have my ways." Norman chuckled darkly, then took Akechi's phone from him.
"What are you doing?" Akechi demanded.
"Proving to you, that I don't fear you or that fool Shido." Norman activated the Metaverse Navigation App. "Norman Osborn, Oscorp Industries, Temple." He threw the phone back to Akechi.
"Palace found, unable to connect." The app's voice said, shocking Akechi.
"You see boy, I've developed the unique ability to see into the Metaverse, as well as the ability to lock users out of either my palace, or the palaces of those I see fit." Norman sneered, his tone actually frightening Akechi. "My message to you and your supposed future Prime Minister is this, stay out of my way, because I know how to hurt you in ways you won't even see coming." Norman left the room, heading into the hallway. Immediately, Akechi went to his ride, this was important.
Meanwhile in the halls, Norman pulled off a plastic film that covered the hand he shook Akechi's hand with. As he turned the corner, Norman was covered in a bright flash of light, replacing him with a slender woman in a black suit dress. The lady pulled out her phone.
"Mr. Osborn, the deed is done." She said with a slight male Russian accent.
"Good Work Dimitri, now we let the fun begin." Norman said on the other end, holding a fragment to the Tablet. "My press conference is set to begin shortly, so I expect you to have a new face by then."
"Already done sir," Dimitri said with a smirk.
"I knew I was right to hire you Chameleon." Osborn smirked victoriously.
Akechi immediately went into the hall to make a phone call. As he did, Akechi's vision began to blur. He stumbled back, then fell to the ground. As Akechi fell unconscious, someone walked up to him.
Later that night, Masayoshi Shido was preparing his next speech for a large banquet sponsored by Kunikazu Okumura of Okumura Foods in the CEO's penthouse. Shido smiled viciously at the CEO of said company as he planned his downfall. The damned fool thought he was fit to go into politics. Not a chance. All that unneeded attention Kunikazu drew from his less than idealistic employee treatment were becoming too much to handle. Perhaps, those idiot Phantom Thieves Kobayakawa mentioned could help. But first, they would need to be more popular.
Sae Nijima on the other hand could only groan in annoyance. "Why am I here again?" She mumbled to herself. Her superior thought it would be a good idea for some higher ups would be good for public image. One guest, Sae noted to be Okumura's daughter Haru, clearly had a similar look on her face.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Shido said in his honest politician voice. "It is with great pleasure that I,"
"Die, yes, yes it is!" A voice sneered from above as the windows were shattered in via explosives. Everyone began to scream in horror as orange bombs shaped like jack-o-lanterns exploded. It was here, a man on a bizarre gargoyle like glider flew in. He was clad in a purple and green skin tight flight suit complete with purple wrist bands and sickly yellow claws on his fingertips. His face was covered by a green mask, giving him a rather demonic look. He wore a purple flight cap with two small yellow horns. He wore a black harness attached to his belt, which had various pouches all over, obviously hiding weapons of all kinds. "Ladies and Gentlemen, now introducing the Big Man of Crime himself, THE GREEN GOBLIN!" The man jumped off his glider and grabbed a bottle of champagne from a nearby table. "Of course, I can't have divided loyalties, show of hands." The Goblin popped the bottle open, and poured himself a glass. "Who here's sweet on the Mafia, those fools out in Kyoto, that newb Hammerhead, or the biggest criminal of them all, Masayoshi Shido and his pals in the SIU?" The criminal in question then turned to Shido. "How many people have you killed to keep you and your pals in office?"
"I assure you, I don't know what you're talking about." Shido gulped horrified. However what concerned him he didn't know if he was afraid more: this goblin character, or what he knew.
"Oh trust me Yoshi, you don't have a clue what I know." Green Goblin sneered, then pulled Masayoshi forward by his tie. The Goblin then put his mouth close to Shido's ear. "Plus, I'm a big fan of Wakaba Isshiki." The Goblin whispered sinisterly, causing Shido's eyes to widen in fear.
Haru gulped horrified, she wasn't certain everyone in the room was going to come out of this alive. One person thought similarly, but she wasn't going to let this goblin character get away with this.
"Don't move freak!" Sae ordered, pulling out a handgun, and pointed it at him.
"And, we're done here." Goblin pointed his finger at Sae, and it fired a green energy beam, pushing her out the destroyed window, and knocking her gun out of her hand.
"NO!" She screamed in horror, as she fell forty stories down.
As the explosions went off earlier, a certain assortments of teens and the cat like creature had just stepped out of the electronics store, buying Takuya a new video camera for the contest.
"Dude, go." Ryuji insisted, nervously.
Takuya ran into the alleyway to change. He then went to the rooftop and shot two web lines like a slingshot, pulling hard. "I've always wanted to try this." Takuya smiled all too happily. He released his grip and was sent flying through the night sky.
"That is so awesome." Ryuji admitted in awe. Akira, Ann, and Morgana couldn't help but nod in agreement.
As Sae was nearing the 12th floor of the building, Spiderman was zooming in. He quickly shot a web line and connected to the building. Using it, he changed directions and quickly grabbed Sae. "Finally, an actually pretty damsel in distress." Spiderman quipped, shooting a web line to control his decent. "The last one crapped himself."
"Spiderman?" Sae asked astonished.
"Accept no substitutes." Spiderman smiled, landing on the ground safely. "So, are all Okumura Food parties this wild, or is one of the employees fighting back?"
Sae was about to comment on how a vigilante shouldn't be here, but then she sighed. "A madman, calling himself the Green Goblin attacked the gala, targeting Shido specifically."
"Ah, party crasher, so I'm guessing he didn't bring a dish to pass." Spiderman joked, causing Sae to snicker a bit. "Well, time to save the day." Spiderman threw up another pair of web lines then shot himself into the sky.
"Damn that's cool." Sae admitted with a small smile.
"Well that's one guest down," Green Goblin sneered, pressing a button on his goblin glider, which popped out a metal jack-o-lantern that he caught. "A few dozen more to go." He threw the bomb at the ceiling above the crowd, causing it to collapse. As the debris fell, an all too familiar wad of webbing created a net, holding it up.
"Alright Emerald Elf, if you keep misbehaving like this, you don't get the toy that comes with your kid's meal." Spiderman said, landing in the room.
"Ah my arachnid friend, the Green Goblin doesn't take orders from lowly insects," The goblin pulled out a pair of pumpkin bombs. "He just swats them away." The Goblin then tossed the two at Spiderman. He quickly retaliated by throwing a web line at a fallen table. Swinging it forward, Spiderman deflected the blasts.
"This is the part of the tour where we kindly ask you all to leave." Spiderman suggested. "Please keep your panicking in a straight and orderly manner."
"Don't have to tell me twice." Haru commented, running off.
"Wait for me sweetie." Kunikazu said, right behind her.
Shido on the other hand stood in silence for a moment, recognizing the glider the Goblin was using. "Osborn." He said angrily, gritting his teeth to the point one of them chipped.
"Sir, we have to get you out of here." One of his guards said, as Green Goblin grabbed Spiderman, pushing him outside on his glider. While in the air, Spiderman jumped off and created a web line.
"So jolly green, why the visit to the party?" Spiderman asked. "Didn't get an invite or you one of Okumura's employees?"
"Oh trust me Spiderman, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you." Green Goblin sneered. He reached into a pouch on his chest and tossed out another pumpkin bomb, this one exploded midflight, and became an assortment of shrapnel spikes.
"Yikes." Spiderman said, dropping from said line. He shot another web line at the glider and pulled himself towards it. Acting quickly, he grabbed on and lifted himself up to directly combat the Goblin.
The two traded blows, with Green Goblin clearly having the upper hand. He threw a punch with his left hand which Spiderman caught and pulled. His glove then ripped off, revealing a large hairy and masculine hand.
"Wow, you really need a manicure." Spiderman joked, seeing the man's hand.
"And you really need to die!" Goblin sneered, pulling out a blade. He attempted to slash Spiderman with it, however Spiderman dodged it. The goblin then repositioned his glider, so Spiderman would fall off. As Spidey plummeted bellow, he tried to shot a web line at the glider to catch it. As it shot, the Green Goblin tried to escape, but the web line covered the thruster. The clog blew the engine on the glider, causing it to fall too.
"Hang on!" Spiderman shot two web lines, one to an adjacent building, and the other to the goblin. However the goblin slashed at Spiderman's rescue, and fell into an abandoned apartment building.
"Well, that happened," Spiderman commented, noticing something was wrong. "Almost like it was planned." Spiderman looked on in surprise, seeing the Green Goblin stumble out of the building's main entry.
"Did he survive a fall like that?" Sae asked astonished.
The Goblin ripped his mask off, revealing none other than Goro Akechi. "Where am I?" He asked dazed. Landing nearby, Spiderman notices both gloves were on Akechi's hands.
"Well, now that isn't suspicious at all." Spiderman said, looking at the glove in his hand still.
"Akechi's the goblin?" One cop noted.
"No he isn't," Spiderman said, walking up to the police. "I ripped this off the real one." He then walked over to Akechi and pulled the same glove off. "And his hand is clearly baby soft, the other guy was mannish and ugly."
"Wait, what?" Akechi asked, clearly delirious.
An ambulance was called in to take Akechi to the hospital, as it was evident he was exposed to something, explaining his condition. Shido was sitting in the back of his limo, seething in anger, the director of the SIU was actually frightened of him.
"Sir calm down, what has you so angered?" The director asked confused.
"Osborn, he created the Goblin, that green freak knows something," Shido finally snapped. "I knew he'd be back for revenge, I just knew it."
"Osborn, the geneticist, how'd you come to that conclusion?" The director asked shocked.
"He wanted Wakaba to work for Oscorp, thinking he could weaponize her research, but we acted before he could." Shido shouted, slamming his fist into the wall. "After he said he had made an enemy out of me, so I decided to get rid of Osborn with a prototype drug, one designed to temporarily kill the user." Shido was reminded of the drug he had, should somebody come after his palace. "We couldn't use Akechi again so we couldn't arouse suspicion,"
"It didn't work I take it?" The director summarized.
"No it did, but on the wrong Osborn," Shido said, his teeth gritting hard. Just then, another tooth broke. "Dear god, I need a dentist." He thought, rubbing his aching jaw.
In an unknown location, Norman Osborn stepped out of the goblin suit, proud of the results.
"So, I take it you've scared Shido?" Octavius asked amused.
"Oh yes, he's scared, more than he's willing to admit." Norman said with a dark smile on. "He's hurt the three of us, now it's time for us to hurt him." Then his expression turned sour. "However that Spiderman ruined our frame up."
"Agreed," A voice said from the rafters. A green furred feral creature jumped down from the ceiling. "Shido will pay for destroying my work, and turning me into this!" Miles Warren was at one point a key researcher at TriCorp, a competitor of one of Shido's allies. So after a mental shutdown was arranged, several researchers caused a catastrophic explosion. Miles survived, mutating him into a jackal like creature.
"Calm yourself Miles, Shido will pay, but being that I do pay for your equipment, I get first punch." Osborn chuckled darkly. Then, Norman walked over to a pod, seeing the still comatose Harry Osborn asleep. The drink Shido spiked was drank by Harry, putting him in this condition to this day, with no chance of revival. The only thing that could work would be to synthesis an antidote from the original research.
Octavius however turned sadly to a picture of himself, Wakaba, and a small bundle of joy in her arms with a tuff of orange hair.
"And what of the Spiderman?" Warden asked confused.
"He'll have a choice: join me, or die," Norman said darkly. "But as a safety precaution, we may need some allies who hate him as much as we do."
May 7th 20XX
Takuya walked through the station, trying to find the Phantom Thieves, they wanted to talk to him about something important, insisting he bring along his outfit. He eventually found the trio, Takuya assumed Morgana was hiding in Akira's bag, near the railing on the upper levels.
"So what's up?" Takuya asked confused.
"We're taking you to Mementos." Morgana answered, poking his head out of the bag.
"You're taking me on a trip to a breath mint factory?" Takuya asked confused.
"No, it's the Palace of the whole city, we found out the weaker shadow selves of people exist in this dimension, and we figured you should come with to help train, in case you have to join us in a palace too." Akira explained with a smile.
"Clearly, Ryuji wasn't the one who came up with that idea." Takuya quipped, getting a chuckle out of the others besides the fake blond.
"Let's go already." Ann said activating her phone. In a wave of red and black ripples the five disappeared. Takuya soon found himself in a rather dark and eerie looking subway station.
"Ok, that's spooky, and this is bizarre." He looked down on himself and became just as surprised as the other phantom thieves.
"That's new." Akira said, surprised to say the least. Takuya was in a brand new Spiderman outfit. It was red, black, and blue for the main body with gold eyes on the face mask. It had large red spider shaped armor pieces over the chest, arms and legs. On his back was a flowing cape made up of webbing.
"Five hundred yen says Madame Web had something to do with this." Spiderman said flatly.
"Suckers bet." Ann said with an equal tone.
"So, now what?" Spiderman asked confused.
"Thanks to Mishima, we can find targets in Mementos and change their hearts like Kamoshida," Joker explained, confusing Spiderman. "He's the one that set up the Phantom Aficionado site, and people submit requests."
"Oh, so he's the admin." Spiderman said amused. "So, who's our target?"
"This douche who's been harassing his ex-girlfriend," Panther explained. "He should be around here somewhere."
"Well then, last one there buys lunch for everyone else." Spiderman said with a chuckle. He shout out a web line and pulled himself forward.
"Dude, wait for us!" Skull hollered out. Morgana then vanished in a puff of smoke, becoming a large cat themed van. The phantom thieves pilled in, intent on beating Spiderman.
Meanwhile, Goro Akechi, recuperating in his hospital room, could only glare in anger, seeing the news report, complete with an interview from Nijima.
"I'll be the first to admit it," Sae began, albeit reluctantly. "These costumed vigilantes you see throughout the world shouldn't be interfering with police business," She paused a moment and sighed. "But Spiderman saved both myself, and my sister, to him, my gratitude has no limits." Angered, Akechi shut the TV off.
"Spiderman, that costumed menace, he's responsible for this," Akechi began, his eyes crazed and rage filled. "He couldn't have just stayed away and let me work, but now I'm stuck here for who knows how long!" He tossed the remote so hard, it shattered against the wall. The nurses wouldn't care, they would just think it was the drugs he was exposed to acting up again. His vengeance against Shido would be delayed, possible forever. But then an idea hit him, the Green Goblin, the suit did fit him.
"But maybe, I need to become a different kind of Goblin." Akechi said darkly, remembering how he found a bizarre rock piece from one of his trips to the Metaverse.
And done, wow, did this take me a while. Now, I know this may seem, incomplete in some places, but it's meant to be that way. To anyone who wishes to make this a proper fanfiction, I leave everything up to you. Now before I go, I have a few things I would like to address to clear up any confusion.
Takuya Yamashiro isn't a Japanese Peter Parker, instead he's a Japanese Spiderman. Allow me to explain if you would. In 1978 Marvel Comics worked with the studio Toei that made the Super Sentai Series. So, the company Toei got the rights to the name Spiderman, and made a Tokusatsu show which would inspire a lot of Super Sentai traditions like the Giant Robot battles. Takuya was the main character of this series, he was Spiderman, but was given powers by an alien spaceship.
The Jester Arcana idea came from Persona 4 Golden with Adachi. I really don't know too much about tarot cards, so I had to improvise. Basically the more Akira bonds with Takuya, the better his second sight becomes. It can increase his range of vision, see through walls, and you can even tell which Shadows you fight before you attack.
I purposely left out the Shadow fights in this story. Simply because, I didn't know what Persona to give Takuya. Personally, I was considering a persona version Leopardon, the giant robot from the Toei series, but I leave that up to whoever writes it. Also, Takuya's metaverse armor is based off the suit used by Peter in Spiderman Unlimited the TV series.
To whoever writes this story, you are free to include any other Marvel Hero/ Villain and you can turn the Phantom Thieves into superheroes of your choice. It's up to you. However, I do have one request in regards to Akechi, turn him into DemoGoblin. Who might that be? Well, do you remember Jason Macendale, the Hobgoblin from the 1990's series? It's him, but fused with a demon and given magic based powers, even a hellfire created glider. We don't really see this form outside Mainstream comics, so I wanted to mix it up a little bit.
So, I hope you enjoyed this one shot, and I hope to see a proper story of this.